Mechanochemical synthesis of lignin-derived carbon nanorods for efficient degradation of organic pollutants via peroxymonosulfate activation

Carbon nanorods are obtained from lignin via a mechanochemical process. • Surface oxidation and subsequent H-bonding are key drivers for the rod formation. • Carbon nanorods exhibit abundant oxygen functional group. • Carbon nanorods/PMS efficiently remove pollutants and pathogenic bacteria. Lignin is an abundant biomass resource widely used as a precursor for high-quality functional carbon synthesis. However, transforming lignin into structurally controllable carbon nanorods remains a significant challenge. A mechanochemical approach was employed to synthesize uniform carbon nanorods (CNRs) with an average diameter of 52 nm and a length of 5.7 μm, featuring abundant oxygenated functional groups. The infrared spectroscopy results show that hydrogen bonds play a crucial role in nanorod formation. In peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation, CNRs achieve 99.4 % bisphenol A removal within 18 min with a rate constant of 0.264 min −1 , while the CNRs membrane maintained over 90 % pollutant removal within 1400 min and exhibited 99 % bactericidal efficiency. Free radical quenching experiments and electrochemical experiments confirmed that the electron transfer and 1 O 2 were the main pathways in the CNRs/PMS system. Life cycle assessment indicates that the mechanochemical route exhibits lower environmental impacts compared to conventional chemical vapor deposition. This study offers a ball-milling strategy for designing uniform carbon nanorods with promising applications in environmental and energy-related technologies. Download: Download high-res image (211KB) Download: Download full-size image