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Vol. 17 (2025)

Joule Heating-Driven sp2-C Domains Modulation in Biomass Carbon for High-Performance Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalysis

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01725-0
Jiawei He
Jiangsu Co‑Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, People’s Republic of China
Yuying Zhao
Key Lab of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province; Jiangsu Co‑Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Nanjing 210042, People’s Republic of China
Yang Li
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
Qixin Yuan
Jiangsu Co‑Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, People’s Republic of China
Yuhan Wu
Jiangsu Co‑Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, People’s Republic of China
Kui Wang
Key Lab of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province; Jiangsu Co‑Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Nanjing 210042, People’s Republic of China
Kang Sun
Key Lab of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province; Jiangsu Co‑Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Nanjing 210042, People’s Republic of China
Jingjie Wu
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
Jianchun Jiang
Key Lab of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province; Jiangsu Co‑Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Nanjing 210042, People’s Republic of China
Baohua Zhang
Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People’s Republic of China
Liang Wang
Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People’s Republic of China
Mengmeng Fan
Jiangsu Co‑Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, International Innovation Center for Forest Chemicals and Materials, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Mengmeng Fan

fanmengmeng370@njfu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 17 (2025), Article Number: 221

Abstract

Natural biomass-derived carbon material is one promising alternative to traditional graphene-based catalyst for oxygen electrocatalysis. However, their electrocatalytic performance were constrained by the limited modulating strategy. Herein, using N-doped commercial coconut shell-derived activated carbon (AC) as catalyst model, the controllably enhanced sp2-C domains, through an flash Joule heating process, effectively improve the edge defect density and overall graphitization degree of AC catalyst, which tunes the electronic structure of N configurations and accelerates electron transfer, leading to excellent oxygen reduction reaction performance (half-wave potential of 0.884 VRHE, equivalent to commercial 20% Pt/C, with a higher kinetic current density of 5.88 mA cm−2) and oxygen evolution reaction activity (overpotential of 295 mV at 10 mA cm2). In a Zn-air battery, the catalyst shows outstanding cycle stability (over 1200 h) and a peak power density of 121 mW cm−2, surpassing commercial Pt/C and RuO2 catalysts. Density functional theory simulation reveals that the enhanced catalytic activity arises from the axial regulation of local sp2-C domains. This work establishes a robust strategy for sp2-C domain modulation, offering broad applicability in natural biomass-based carbon catalysts for electrocatalysis.


Highlights:
1 The flash Joule heating controllably enhanced sp2-domains content in various N-doped natural biomass-based carbon.
2 The axial modulation of sp2-C domains decreased the charge density of pyridinic N and graphitic N configurations resulting into outstanding oxygen electrocatalysis.
3 The assembled Zn-air battery with optimized catalyst achieved an over 1200-h cycle stability with the peak power density of 121 mW cm−2, exceeding the commercial Pt/C + RuO2 catalysts.

Keywords

Natural biomass Carbon-based catalyst sp 2-C domains Joule heating Oxygen electrocatalysis
He, Jiawei, Yuying Zhao, Yang Li, Qixin Yuan, Yuhan Wu, Kui Wang, Kang Sun, Jingjie Wu, Jianchun Jiang, Baohua Zhang, Liang Wang, and Mengmeng Fan. 2025. “Joule Heating-Driven Sp2-C Domains Modulation in Biomass Carbon for High-Performance Bifunctional Oxygen Electrocatalysis”. Nano-Micro Letters 17 (April):221. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01725-0.
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