Abstract
This work explored the synthesis of carbon-based luminescent materials using cheap, natural resources. Lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites were successfully synthesized using previously extracted lignin solution and CePO4, or NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O by the solvothermal method at 200 °C for 24 h, respectively. The lignin solution was previously prepared by the extraction of wood powder in a mixed solvent of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/lithium chloride (LiCl). All of the obtained lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectra (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and photoluminescence (PL). SEM micrographs showed that the CePO4 concentration had an influence on the size, microstructure, and morphology of the carbon/ CePO4 nanocomposites. The experimental results indicated that the obtained lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites had excellent PL properties.
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Lignin-Based Carbon/CePO4 Nanocomposites: Solvothermal Fabrication, Characterization, Thermal Stability, and Luminescence
Shu-Ming Li,a Shao-Long Sun,a Ming-Guo Ma,a,* Yan-Yan Dong,a Lian-Hua Fu,a Run-Cang Sun,a,b and Feng Xu a
This work explored the synthesis of carbon-based luminescent materials using cheap, natural resources. Lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites were successfully synthesized using previously extracted lignin solution and CePO4, or NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O by the solvothermal method at 200 °C for 24 h, respectively. The lignin solution was previously prepared by the extraction of wood powder in a mixed solvent of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/lithium chloride (LiCl). All of the obtained lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectra (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and photoluminescence (PL). SEM micrographs showed that the CePO4 concentration had an influence on the size, microstructure, and morphology of the carbon/ CePO4 nanocomposites. The experimental results indicated that the obtained lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites had excellent PL properties.
Keywords: Lignin-based carbon; CePO4; Nanocomposites; Solvothermal; Luminescence
Contact information: a: Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, College of Materials Science and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, PR China; b: State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, PR China;
*Corresponding author: mg_ma@bjfu.edu.cn
INTRODUCTION
Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991 (Iijima 1991), carbon and carbon-based nanocomposites have been receiving more attention due to their unique properties (Baughman et al. 2002) such as mechanical properties, high thermal stability, electrical properties, high-temperature and high-pressure stability, resistance to attacks from acids, bases, and solvents, and promising potential applications in electronic conductors (White and Todorov 1998), microelectrodes (Teo et al. 2005), field emission transistors (Keren et al. 2003), and hydrogen storage (Lin 2000). In addition, carbon and carbon-based nanocomposites can be used for drugs (Bianco et al. 2005), proteins, DNA, and catalyst supports (Ruiz-Hitzky et al. 2010). Until now, the synthesis of carbon-based nanocomposites made of tellurium/carbon (Qian et al. 2006), selenium/carbon (Yu et al. 2006), Fe3O4/C (Hu and Yu 2006), and CePO4/C (Ma et al. 2009) has been successfully carried out.
Polyacrylonitrile has been used as a prominent precursor for carbon materials in the past (Shindo 1961). Lignin is the second most abundant component of biomass in nature after cellulose (Adler 1977). There have been few studies that use cellulose as a precursor for carbonaceous material (Azambrea et al. 2000; Ishida et al. 2004; Sevilla and Fuertes 2010). Recently, however, lignin was used as a precursor for such carbon-aceous materials as activated carbons (Bedia et al. 2007; Hayashi et al. 2000; Rodríguez-Mirasol et al. 1993; Suhas Carrott and Ribeiro Carrott 2007), carbon catalysts (Bedia et al. 2009), and carbon-based composite materials (Kosikova et al. 1993; Thielemans et al. 2002) due to its low cost and high availability. Moreover, lignin is the major component of sulfite pulping black liquor. Thus, lignin can be regarded as a renewable feedstock that is well suited for producing high value-added carbonaceous materials to address environ-mental problems.
There have also been reports on the fabrication of lignin-based carbon materials. Sudo et al. (1992, 1993) reported the process of converting steam-exploded lignin into molten viscous material as a precursor for carbon fibers using the spinning method and the fabrication of carbon fibers from steam-exploded lignin using the phenolysis method based on heat treatment of the molten viscous material under a vacuum. Kubo et al. (1998, 2005) reported the use of lignin as a precursor for carbon fibers and investigated the effect of synthetic polymer blending on lignin-based carbon fibers properties. Uraki et al. (2001) synthesized activated carbon fibers with large specific surface area from softwood acetic acid lignin. Lallave et al. (2007) presented a new, straightforward method for obtaining carbon micro- and nanofibers, both solid and hollow, by co-electrospinning Alcell lignin solutions at room temperature without any added polymer. Microporous active carbon materials with efficient hydrogen electrosorption at ambient conditions have been produced from lignin by standard carbonization and KOH activation at 950 °C (Babel and Jurewicz 2008). Additionally, microporous carbon fibers were synthesized from lignin fibers with and without platinum by electrospinning lignin/ethanol/platinum acetyl acetonate and lignin/ethanol solutions (Ruiz-Rosas et al. 2010). Activated carbon with a high capacity for adsorption of metallic ions was prepared by chemical activation of brewer’s spent grain lignin using H3PO4 at various acid/lignin ratios and carbonization temperatures (Mussatto et al. 2010). However, the synthesis of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites using the solvothermal method has not yet been reported.
It is well known that the rare earth phosphates have been extensively used in high performance luminescent devices, sensors, magnets, catalysts, and heat-resistant materials (Feldmann et al. 2003). Among these rare earth phosphates, CePO4 can be applied in tribological, heat-resistant, and ceramic materials. In the previous study, CePO4/C core-shell nanorods were synthesized using glucose and CePO4 by the hydrothermal method at 160 °C for 24 h (Ma et al. 2009). Additionally, CePO4@LaPO4 one-dimensional nanostructures with highly improved luminescence were fabricated by hydrothermal method (Ma et al. 2010).
Herein, the synthesis of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites was reported by the solvothermal method using a lignin solution and CePO4 or NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O. The solvothermal method is a promising technology for the preparation of inorganic materials. The medium used in the solvothermal process is a non-aqueous solvent or mixed solvent, which induces the reaction mechanism for the synthesis of inorganic materials caused by the difference in polarity of the organic solvent and water. The lignin solution was previously extracted from wood powder according to a method given in the literature (Wang et al. 2009). The solvothermal method provides a high temperature and pressure environment and is favorable for the carbonization of lignin and the fabrication of carbon and CePO4. As one of the most abundant natural phenolic polymers, lignin composes up to one-third of the material found in plant cell walls. In comparison with previous reports (Ma et al. 2009), lignin material is cheaper for the synthesis of carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites. Furthermore, it provides a new solution for utilizing renewable resources to alleviate environmental problems and provides new opportunities for high value-added applications of lignin.
EXPERIMENTAL
Methods
Production of lignin solution
All chemicals were of analytical grade and used as received without further purification. All experiments were conducted under an air atmosphere. The lignin solution was extracted from wood powder as previously described (Ruiz-Rosas et al. 2010). In a typical synthesis, 3.000 g wood powder and 1.200 g LiCl were added to 30 mL of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) under vigorous stirring at room temperature for 1 h. Then, the obtained solution was heated to 140 °C for 1 h by microwave heating. After that, the mixture was precipitated by 95% ethanol. The obtained precipitate was made of cellulose and hemicellulose. The filtrate was heated in a water bath and concentrated by a rotary evaporator at 50 °C. Finally, the lignin solution was obtained in a mixed solvent of DMSO/ethanol.
Fabrication of CePO4
The synthesis of CePO4 was carried out as follows: 0.156 g NaH2PO4•2H2O and 0.434 g Ce(NO3)3•6H2O were added into 15 mL of distilled water under vigorous stirring for 30 min. The obtained solution was hydrothermally treated at 200 °C for 24 h without stirring or shaking, and was then allowed to naturally cool down to room temperature. Subsequently, the remaining CePO4 precipitate was used for the preparation of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites.
Preparation of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites
For the synthesis of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites, CePO4 precipitate was highly dispersed in 30 mL of the obtained lignin solution. The resulting suspension was poured into a Teflon-lined autoclave. The autoclave was sealed, maintained at 200 °C for 24 h, and then air-cooled to room temperature. The resulting precipitate was separated from the solution by centrifugation, washed by ethanol several times, and dried at 60 °C for further characterization. These samples were denoted sample 1, 2, and 3. The experimental parameters for the synthesis of the samples are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Detailed Experimental Parameters for the Synthesis of Samples Prepared by the Solvothermal Method at 200 °C for 24 h
*The precipitate CePO4 was obtained using 0.156 g NaH2PO4•2H2O and 0.434 g Ce(NO3)3•6H2O by the hydrothermal method at 200 °C for 24 h.
For comparison, lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites were also synthe-sized as follows: NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O were added directly into the obtained lignin solution (30 mL) under vigorous magnetic stirring. The resulting suspension was poured into a Teflon-lined autoclave. The autoclave was sealed, main-tained at 200 °C for 24 h, and then air-cooled to room temperature. The resulting precipitate was separated from the solution by centrifugation, washed with ethanol several times, and dried at 60 °C for further characterization. The samples were denoted sample 4, 5, and 6, as shown in Table 1.
Characterization
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were recorded with a Hitachi 3400 N scanning electron microscope. All samples were coated with a layer of Au about 20 nm thick prior to examination by SEM. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectra (EDS) attached to the scanning electron microscopy were used to analyze the composition of the sample. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns were recorded in 2θ range from 10° to 70° on an X’Pert PRO MPD diffractometer operating at 40 kV with Cu Kα (λ = 1.5405Ǻ) radiation. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was carried out on an FT-IR spectrophotometer (Nicolet 510) using the KBr disk method. The thermal behavior of the samples was tested using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) on a simultaneous thermal analyzer (DTG-60, Shimadzu) at a heating rate of 10 °C min-1 in flowing air. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra were obtained using a fluorescence spectrophotometer (Perkin-Elmer LS-55) with a xenon lamp as the excitation source with an excitation wavelength of 280 nm.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The morphology and microstructures of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nano-composites, which were synthesized by the solvothermal method using one-third, half, and the entire CePO4precipitate together with the lignin solution at 200 °C for 24 h, were investigated by SEM, as shown in Fig. 1. When one-third of the CePO4 precipitate was used with the lignin to fabricate carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites, spheres and congregated fiber-like shapes were observed (Fig. 1a). A magnified micrograph of the sphere-like morphology is shown in Fig. 1b. The spheres had diameters of about 4.5 μm and most nanoparticles were bound to the sphere surface. Compared with Fig. 1a and 1b, there was no significant difference in the morphology of the nanocomposites made using half of the CePO4 precipitate (Fig. 1c). A magnified micrograph of the sphere-like morphology is shown in Fig. 1d. The spheres had diameters of about 4.1 μm, and some nanoparticles were also bound to the sphere surface. Increasing the CePO4 concentration from half to the whole CePO4 precipitate resulted in similar morphology (Fig. 1e). A magnified micrograph of the sphere-like morphology is shown in Fig. 1f. The spheres had diameters of about 3.6 μm, and almost no nanoparticles were observed on the sphere surface. The size of the spheres decreased and the sphere surface became smooth with increasing CePO4 concentration, indicating that the CePO4 concentration had an influence on the size and microstructure of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites.
Fig. 1. SEM micrographs of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites synthesized by the solvothermal method using different CePO4 precipitate at 200 °C for 24 h: sample 1 (a, b); sample 2 (c, d); sample 3 (e, f)
Lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites were also synthesized by the solvo-thermal method using lignin solution, NaH2PO4•2H2O, and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O at 200 °C for 24 h. When 0.078 g NaH2PO4•2H2O and 0.217 g Ce(NO3)3•6H2O were used for the preparation of carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites, sphere-like and rose-like morphologies consisting of curved nanosheet building blocks were obtained, as shown in Fig. 2a-c. Magnified micrographs of the sphere-like and rose-like morphologies are shown in Fig. 2b and c, respectively. The nanoparticles were bound to the sphere surface, so the sphere was not stable under electron beam irradiation and surface bulging was observed (Fig. 2b). When the NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O concentrations were increased to 0.156 g and 0.434 g, sphere-like and carnation-like morphologies were also observed (Fig. 2d-f). Individual carnation-like shapes are shown in Fig. 2e and f. In addition, a few single sheets were also observed. When the NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O concen-trations were increased to 0.312 g and 0.868 g, sphere-like shapes were observed as the major morphology, while nanosheets and rose-like shapes were observed as minor morphologies (Fig. 2g-i). Figures 2h and i show the detailed structure of the sphere-like morphology, which had diameters of about 4.66 μm and consisted of curved nanosheet building blocks. Different morphologies were observed from different NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O concentrations, indicating that concentrations of NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O played an important role in the shape and microstructure of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites. Moreover, the shapes of nanocomposites in Fig. 2 were different from those shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 2. SEM micrographs of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites synthesized by the solvothermal method using different NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O concentrations at 200 °C for 24 h: sample 4 (a-c); sample 5 (d-f); sample 6 (g-i)
To further observe the morphology and microstructure of the lignin-based carbon/ CePO4 nanocomposites, the samples were investigated by TEM, as shown in Fig. S1. When half of the CePO4 precipitate was used to fabricate carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites, CePO4 nanorods had relatively uniform sizes with diameters ranging from 25 to 35 nm and lengths of up to several micrometers (Fig. S1a-c). When the NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O concentrations were increased to 0.156 g and 0.434 g, nanoparticles and curved nanosheet building blocks were clearly observed (Fig. S1d-f). Finally, when NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O concentrations were increased to 0.312 g and 0.868 g, nanosheets and nanoparticles were obtained (Fig. S1g-i). SEM and TEM results confirmed the synthesis of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites.
In a previous study, CePO4/C core-shell nanorods were obtained using glucose as the carbon source by the hydrothermal method (Ma et al. 2009). However, in this work, sphere-like, congregated fiber-like, flower-like, and carnation-like shapes were observed using lignin as the carbon source, as shown in Fig. 1 and 2. Glucose is a monosaccharide, which is easily carbonized to fabricate core-shell nanorods using CePO4 nanorods as a template. Lignin is a complex polyphenolic amorphous polymer originating from the copolymerization of three phenylpropanoid monomers, i.e., coniferyl, sinapyl, and pcoumaryl alcohol. Therefore, the carbonization of lignin is a more complex process. Furthermore, the mixed solvents of DMSO/ethanol were used under solvothermal conditions. The different solvents had different adsorption ability on various facets, leading to the different growth rates for different crystal facets of lignin-based carbon/ CePO4 nanocomposites. Of course, the intrinsic reasons for the morphological changes of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites still need to be investigated further.
Figure S2a shows the EDS spectrum of the sample synthesized by the solvothermal method using lignin solution, 0.312 g of NaH2PO4•2H2O, and 0.868 g of Ce(NO3)3•6H2O at 200 °C for 24 h. The sample consisted of C, O, Ce, and P, the right composition of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites. The Cu signal came from the SEM copper grid of the sample holder. The Au signal came from the Au coated to a thickness of about 20 nm prior to examination by SEM. Figures S2b-e show the EDS elemental mapping images of C, O, Ce, and P, respectively, which further confirmed the correct composition of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites. The EDS elemental mapping image of C in Fig. S2b also indicated the existence of carbon spheres. The EDS elemental mapping images of O, Ce, and P in Fig. S2c-e implied homogeneous distribution of CePO4.
The CePO4 phase of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites was charac-terized with XRD, as shown in Fig. S3. All of the samples had similar XRD patterns, which can be readily indexed to the CePO4 with a monoclinic structure (JCPDS 32-0199). The pattern peak intensity (Fig. S3d-f) of the samples synthesized by mixing the lignin solution, NaH2PO4•2H2O, and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O was stronger than that of the samples synthesized by mixing lignin and CePO4 (Fig. S3a-c). Simultaneous formation of carbon from the lignin solution and CePO4nanoparticles led to homogeneity within the composite structures of carbon and CePO4 nanoparticles. When the concentration of NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O increased, a peak from impurity was observed at 2 = 16.1o (Fig. S3e,f). No peaks from carbon were observed in any of the XRD patterns. The XRD results confirmed that the obtained carbon was amorphous. The sizes of CePO4 nanostructures were calculated according to the Scherrer formula,
D = Kλ / (β cos θ) (1)
where K is a constant, λ is 1.5405 Ǻ, and β is half peak width. Here, K is assigned as 1. The sizes of samples 1 through 6 were 37 nm, 36 nm, 34 nm, 33 nm, 42 nm, and 41 nm, respectively.
The lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites were further examined by FT-IR analysis, as shown in Fig. S4. All samples exhibited the characteristic absorptions of lignin and CePO4. The band at 3480 cm-1 is attributed to O-H stretching vibration. The bands at 2970 and 2918 cm-1 are due to the C-H stretching of aliphatic and aromatic carbons. The band at 1616 cm-1 is indicative of the C=O stretching of carbonyls (Friese and Banerjee 1992). The shoulder at 1711 cm-1 is assigned to unconjugated carbonyls. The bands due to the asymmetric stretching of PO3 terminal groups from pyrophosphate were observed at 1201 and 1104 cm-1. The band at 948 cm-1 is characteristic of the symmetric stretching vibrations of PO3 groups, while the absorption bands at 643 cm-1 and in the region of 400 to 600 cm-1 belong to the O=P-O bending and O-P-O bending modes of the deformation of PO2 and PO3 groups. The similar spectral profiles indicated the similar structures of the cellulose in composites. However, compared to the samples synthesized by the solvothermal method using lignin solution and CePO4 (Fig. S4a-c), the intensity of the peak at 948 cm-1 decreased for the samples prepared using lignin, NaH2PO4•2H2O, and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O (Fig. S4d-f). This result indicated the decreasing of PO3 groups, which was due to the relatively homogenous composition of CePO4 and carbon. We investigated the structure of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites by the cross polarization magic angle spinning (CP/MAS) 13C-NMR spectrum (data not given). Unfortunately, no noticeable signals were observed in the 13C-NMR spectrum. Only three broad weak peaks were obtained in the regions of 0 to 20 ppm, 100 to 150 ppm, and 160 to 200 ppm. The intrinsic reason needs to be further explored in the near future. Raman spectra were also applied to characterize the structure of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites (data not given). Only a weak peak was observed at 1521 cm-1, assigning to the carbon. No other peaks were obtained.
The thermal stability of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites is very important for their application, so it was also investigated by TGA and DTA. The TGA and DTA curves for the prepared nanocomposites are shown in Figs. S5 and S6. The TGA curves of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites synthesized by mixing the lignin solution and CePO4exhibited a small weight loss at about 150 °C due to the loss of adsorbed water molecules that came from the ambient environment (Fig. S5A). This weight loss was accompanied by endothermic peaks at about 150 °C in the DTA curves (Fig. S5B). The obvious weight losses of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nano-composites were 37.8 %, 33.0%, and 23.4% from 250 °C to 600 °C in the TGA curves for samples 1, 2, and 3 (Fig. S5A), indicating that the weight losses decreased with increasing CePO4 concentration. The weight loss was attributable to the thermal decom-position of carbon in the composites and degradation of the carbohydrate components of lignin, which were degraded to volatile gases including CO, CO2, and CH4. The corresponding endothermic peaks were observed at about 579 °C in the DTA curves (Fig. S5B). For comparison, the TGA and DTA curves of the samples synthesized by mixing lignin, NaH2PO4•2H2O, and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O are also shown in Fig. S6. The weight losses were 34.8 %, 28.5%, and 36.7% from 250 °C to 600 °C in the TGA curves (Fig. S6A), which was not in agreement with the results shown in Fig. S5A. The DTA curves of the samples synthesized using 0.078 g NaH2PO4•2H2O and 0.217 g Ce(NO3)3•6H2O, 0.156 g NaH2PO4•2H2O, and 0.434 g Ce(NO3)3•6H2O showed endothermic peaks at about 106 °C and 129 °C, respectively (Fig. S6B). However, the DTA curve of the sample synthesized using 0.312 g NaH2PO4•2H2O and 0.868 g Ce(NO3)3•6H2O did not show a peak in this temperature region. Moreover, an endothermic peak at about 262 °C was observed in all of the DTA curves. Based on the TGA results from Fig. S5 and S6, the CePO4 concentrations were 62.2%, 67.0%, 76.6%, 65.2%, 71.5%, and 63.3% for samples 1 through 6. Samples 1 to 3 were synthesized using one-third, half, and whole of precipitate CePO4, inducing the increasing CePO4 concentrations in the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites. However, samples 4 to 6 were synthesized using 0.078 g NaH2PO4•2H2O and 0.217 g Ce(NO3)3•6H2O, 0.156 g NaH2PO4•2H2O and 0.434 g Ce(NO3)3•6H2O, and 0.312 g NaH2PO4•2H2O and 0.868 g Ce(NO3)3•6H2O. The concentration of Ce(NO3)3 and NaH2PO4•2H2O increased relative to the lignin in samples 4 through 6. As is well known, it is difficult to obtain a 100% conversion rate of CePO4 from Ce(NO3)3 and NaH2PO4•2H2O in nanocomposites. Therefore, the concentration of CePO4 in nanocomposites was not in accordance with the concentration of Ce(NO3)3 and NaH2PO4•2H2O. The CePO4 concentrations did not increase with increasing concentra-tions of NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O.
Luminescent spectra of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites with an excitation wavelength of 280 nm were also obtained, as shown in Fig. 3. Figures 3a-c show the PL spectra of the nanocomposites synthesized by mixing lignin and CePO4. There is a weak peak in the visible region around 467 nm and a strong emission peak centered at 318 nm, which may be ascribed to the d-f transitions of Ce3+ ions (Bu et al. 2004). The peak intensity of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites increased with increasing CePO4 concentration, indicating improved luminescent efficiency. There-fore, the peak intensity of nanocomposites can be adjusted by changing the CePO4 concentration. However, two strong emission peaks centered in the 310 to 340 nm region were observed in a previous study on CePO4@C and CePO4@LaPO4 composites (Ma et al. 2009, 2010). The PL spectra of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 composites synthesized by mixing the lignin, NaH2PO4•2H2O, and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O are shown in Fig. 3d-f. The strong emission peak of lignin-based carbon/CePO4nanocomposites in Fig. 3d-f was centered at a similar wavelength (321 nm) to Fig. 3a-c. Moreover, the peak intensity of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites also increased with increasing CePO4 concentration. These results indicated the successful synthesis of lignin-based carbon/ CePO4 nanocomposites with good PL properties. Moreover, the peak intensities of lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites were much weaker than previous results (Ma et al. 2009, 2010).
Factors such as the concentration, size, shape, microstructures, and dispersion of nanocomposites might have an effect on the peak intensity of PL spectra. In this work, the CePO4concentrations were between 62.2% and 76.6% for samples 1 through 6. The percentage of lignin-based carbon in nanocomposites was between 23.4% and 37.8%, inducing the low peak intensity of PL spectra. Moreover, as indicated by Bu et al. (2005), a significant amount of nonradiative centers existed on the surface of CePO4 nanowires, which absorbed the energy of the electron and gave no light emissions. While CePO4/C core-shell nanorods and CePO4@LaPO4 one-dimensional nanostructures with good dispersion were obtained in previous works (Ma et al. 2009, 2010), lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites with different morphologies (sphere, congregated fiber-like, flower, and carnation) were observed in this work. The CePO4 was not formed as a composite with lignin-based carbon to fabricate core-shell structure, which may help to explain the difference in PL property, compared with the previous reports (Ma et al. 2009, 2010).
Fig. 3. PL spectra of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites (λexc = 280 nm): sample 1 (a); sample 2 (b); sample 3 (c); sample 4 (d); sample 5 (e); sample 6 (f)
CONCLUSIONS
- The synthesis of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites was reported using a hydrothermal method and mixing the lignin solution with CePO4 or NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O.
- SEM micrographs indicated that the CePO4 concentration had an influence on the size and microstructure of carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites, while the NaH2PO4•2H2O and Ce(NO3)3•6H2O concentrations also played an important role in the shape and microstructure of carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites.
- The PL spectra of the carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites showed that the peak intensity of nanocomposites can be adjusted by changing the CePO4 concentration.
- The synthetic strategy reported in this work provides a new opportunity for high value-added applications of lignin. The lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites might be a very promising candidate for the application in luminescent devices.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Financial support from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. TD2011-11, JC2013-3), Beijing Nova Program (Z121103002512030), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-11-0586), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31070511), and Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20100014120010) is gratefully acknowledged.
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Article submitted: March 10, 2013; Peer review completed: May 21, 2013; Revised version received: June 14, 2013; Accepted: June 16, 2013; Published: June 19, 2013.
APPENDIX
Supplemental Figures
Fig. S1. TEM micrographs of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites: (a-c) sample 2; (d-f) sample 5; (g-i) sample 6.
Fig. S2. (a) EDS spectrum, (b-e) the EDS elemental mapping images of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites (sample 6): (b) C; (c) O; (d) Ce; and (e) P.
Fig. S3. XRD patterns of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites: (a) sample 1; (b) sample 2; (c) sample 3; (d) sample 4; (e) sample 5; (f) sample 6.
Fig. S4. FT-IR spectra of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites: (a) sample 1; (b) sample 2; (c) sample 3; (d) sample 4; (e) sample 5; (f) sample 6
Fig. S5. (A) TGA and (B) DTA curves of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites: (a) sample 1; (b) sample 2; (c) sample 3
Fig. S6 (A) TGA and (B) DTA curves of the lignin-based carbon/CePO4 nanocomposites: (a) sample 4; (b) sample 5; (c) sample 6