Paper cup composed of crude cellulose is a common waste in daily life. In this paper, hierarchical porous carbons have been successfully prepared by an initial hydrothermal treatment and subsequent activation route from abandoned paper cup, and then paper cup derived carbons are used as scaffolds to fabricate serial carbon/Se composites. The optimal composite presents unique 3D porous structure, with amorphous selenium uniformly confined into the micropores of carbon. As the cathode materials of Li-Se battery, this composite reveals an initial reversible discharge capacity of 517.2 mAh g −1 at 0.2C, and a capacity value of 431.9 mAh g −1 can be retained after 60 cycles. Even at a high rate of 4C, a capacity value of 295.8 mAh g −1 can be obtained. By comparison, the improved electrochemical performance of the optimal composite should be attributed to reasonable porous structure and effective encapsulation of amorphous selenium.
Juan Li,Gan Wang,Xiaoli Gou,Juan Xiang,Qiu-ting Huang,Guokun Liu
Most food packages are made of plastics, nanoplastics released from which can be directly ingested and induce serious damage to organisms. Therefore, it is urgent to develop an effective and convenient method for nanoplastic determinations in food packages. In this work, we present a sandwich-based electrochemical strategy for nanoplastic determination. Positively charged Au nanoparticles were coated onto a Au electrode to selectively capture negatively charged nanoplastics in an aqueous environment. Subsequently, the nanoplastics were recognized by the signal molecule ferrocene via the hydrophobic interaction and determined by differential pulse voltammetry. Our sandwich-type detection depends on both electronegativity and hydrophobicity of nanoplastics, which make the method applicable for the assays of packages made of widely commercialized polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and polyamide (PA). The method displays different sensitivities to above four nanoplastics but the same dynamic range from 1 to 100 μg·L–1. Based on it, the nanoplastics released from several typical food packages were assayed. Teabags were revealed with significant nanoplastic release, while instant noodle boxes, paper cups, and take-out boxes release slightly. The good recoveries in nanoplastic-spiked samples confirm the accuracy and applicability of this method. This work provides a sensitive, low-cost, and simple method without complicated instruments and pretreatment, which is of great significance for the determination of nanoplastics released from food packages.