Preparation of biochar microspheres from leaves of several plants by hydrothermal method

Abstract

In the paper, by means of orthogonal experiment, hydrothermal carbonization method, with the principle of preparation of carbon microspheres from glucose by hydrothermal method as reference and charring three different plants (ginkgo leaf, maple leaf and pine needle), we seek the possibility to carbonize plants into porous carbon with specific morphology and then to use the biochar for negative electrode of lithium ion battery. In process of the research, it was found that biochar microspheres (0.5um-5um) existed in several plant carbon obtained by hydrothermal carbonization, and some special elements (Mg, K, Ca, etc) were doped. Therefore, different materials were studied separately, the reaction temperature and reaction time were changed, and ultrasonic oscillation processing was used to find the best conditions for the preparation of biochar microspheres with specific doped elements, uniform particle size distribution and high yield.