Facile synthesis of mesoporous carbon material from treated kitchen waste for energy applications

Biomass is abundant, easily available, and environmentally benign source of C which can be converted to scientifically useful materials by appropriate processing. This work is our attempt to convert the treated kitchen waste and chicken manure into valuable mesoporous carbons, and to check its suitability for energy applications. The samples have been prepared using high-temperature carbonization method, and the results are investigated for physical, chemical, and preliminary electrochemical studies. The synthesized porous carbons have mesoporous size distributions (10.29 nm) along with high-doped N content (9.2 at. %). An increase in the disordered porous structure and, hence, the number of active sites have been observed under field-emission scanning electron microscopy. In the electrochemical studies, a positive shift of -0.104 V has been observed in the oxygen reduction onset potential of the kitchen waste and chicken manure-based mesoporous carbons as compared to the control sample. Interestingly, the electrocatalytic performance is even comparable to the commercial Pt/C-based electrocatalyst. These studies indicate the suitability of the designed electrocatalyst for clean energy devices. Our approach is also an effective way to dispose-off the kitchen waste by modifying it using poultry faeces, which is a remedy to manage large-scale organic waste.