Abstract
Carbonized lignin has been proposed as a sustainable and domestic source of activated, amorphous, graphitic, and nanostructured carbon for many industrial applications as the structure can be tuned through processing conditions. However, the inherent variability of lignin and its complex physicochemical structure resulting from feedstock and pulping selection make the Process-Structure-Property-Performance (PSPP) relationships hard to define. In this work, radial distribution functions (RDFs) from synchrotron X-ray and neutron scattering of lignin-based carbon composites (LBCCs) are investigated using the Hierarchical Decomposition of the Radial Distribution Function (HDRDF) modelling method to characterize the local atomic environment and develop quantitative PSPP relationships. PSPP relationships for LBCCs defined by this work include crystallite size dependence on lignin feedstock as well as increasing crystalline volume fraction, nanoscale composite density, and crystallite size with increasing reduction temperature.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e202100220 |
| Journal | ChemistryOpen |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2022 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This work used the resources of Infrastructure for Scientific Applications and Advanced Computing (ISAAC) at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This work used the resources of The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory. This work used models created with the aid of structural information obtained through use of the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and sponsored by was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. This research was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Nanotechnology Program award number 2017-67021-26599. D.P.H. acknowledges support from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch Project 1012359. This work used the resources of Infrastructure for Scientific Applications and Advanced Computing (ISAAC) at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This work used the resources of The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory. This work used models created with the aid of structural information obtained through use of the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and sponsored by was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. This research was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Nanotechnology Program award number 2017‐67021‐26599. D.P.H. acknowledges support from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch Project 1012359.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Nanotechnology Program | 2017‐67021‐26599 |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| National Institute of Food and Agriculture | 1012359 |
| Basic Energy Sciences | |
| Argonne National Laboratory | |
| University of Tennessee |
Keywords
- composite materials
- graphite
- lignin
- modelling
- sustainable
