Nanomaterials (NMs) are gradually becoming pervasive in the modern world, entering every application for improving the quality of life. Multifaceted uses of NMs in curing diseases, biomedical instrumentation, bioimaging, drugs, and gene delivery, display devices, nanosensors, and biomarkers in several fields ranging from agriculture to industries, healthcare, and environment, have been well recognized. Carbon-based nanomaterials (CNMs) constitute a major type of NMs with broad-spectrum applications including their uses in agriculture. These are synthesized in large quantities via synthetic and biological approaches. Biological approaches are gaining appreciation and momentum, owing to the advantages associated with them, major being their environment friendly or ‘Green’ nature. This topical review focuses on the preparation of CNMs using natural resources, i.e., using the Green Nanotechnology. The up-to-date compilation presented here includes most of the popular green technological methods of producing the CNMs and their immediate uses as anticancer agents, in bio-labelling, as biosensors, in bio-remediation, in cell imaging, in fluorescent inks, and fluorescent dyes, as plant growth inducing agents, in nano-probes, in light-emitting devices and other applications. It is intended to update the reader with the state-of-the-art knowledge about the green technological methods for synthesizing CNMs, their uses, current trends, challenges, and future outlook on the topic.

As a new nanostructure, a graphene is a compound of carbon atoms with a two-dimensional structure that has attracted the attention of many nanoscale researchers due to its novel physical and chemical properties. The presence of all graphene atoms in the surface and its unique electrical properties, as well as the ability to functionalize and combine with another nanomaterial, has introduced graphene as a new and suitable candidate material for gas sensing. Over the years, many researchers have turned their attention to carbon nanomaterial. The unique optical, mechanical, and electronic properties of these nanostructures have led them to use these nanomaterials to develop tiny devices, such as low-consumption sensors. Carbon nanomaterial poses a threat to another nanomaterial in terms of their use in gas sensors. This review article discusses the use of carbon nanoparticles and graphene in gas sensors, examines the nodes in the commercialization pathway of these compounds, and presents the latest achievements. Finally, the perspectives of the challenges and opportunities in the field of sensors based on carbon nanomaterial and graphene are examined.

Conductive carbon cloths (CCs) have been great attention as a promising current collector for flexible supercapacitors that supply power to portable and wearable electronics. However, the hydrophobic surface and weak adhesion with active materials has limited to be adopted as the binder-free and flexible electrode with mechanical/electrochemical stability. In this work, we demonstrate preparation of binder-free and flexible electrodes based on polyaniline (PANI) on carbon cloth. Polydopamine (PDA) layer are used to impart hydrophilicity, leading to uniform growth of PANI on the hydrophobic surface of carbon. Furthermore, PDA layer improves adhesion strength between PANI and carbon substrates, which allows for superior mechanical stability under ultrasonic condition. PANI-based flexible electrode shows high areal capacitance (160.8 mF cm− 2 at 0.5 mA cm− 2), good rate capability (71.1% even at high current density of 10 mA cm− 2), and long-term cycling stability (82.6% capacitance retention after 1500 cycles). Furthermore, a quasi-solid-state flexible supercapacitor reveals remarkable mechanical flexibility and durability, with superior capacitance retention (~ 100%) in bent state and after repetitive 1000 cycles.

Silicon oxide (SiOx) has been considered one of the most promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries due to having a higher capacity than the commercial graphite anodes. However, its practical application is hampered by very large volume variations. In this work, pyrolysis fuel oil is the carbon coating precursor, and physical vapor deposition (PVD) is performed on SiOx at 200 and 400 °C (SiOx@C 200 and SiOx@C 400), followed by carbonization at 950 °C. SiOx@C 200 has a carbon coating layer with a thickness of ~ 20 nm and an amorphous structure, while that of SiOx@C 400 is approximately 10 nm thick and has a more semigraphitic structure. The carbon-coated SiOx anodes display better charge–discharge performance than the pristine SiOx anode. In particular, SiOx@C 200 shows the highest reversible capacity compared with the other samples at high C-rates (2.0 and 5.0 C). Moreover, SiOx@C 200 exhibits excellent cycling stability with a capacity retention of 90.2% after 80 cycles at 1.0 C. This result is ascribed to the suppressed volume expansion by the PFO carbon coating on SiOx after PVD.

In this work, the sulfonic acid group was introduced into the resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF) microspheres by the addition of p-phenolsulfonic acid during the polycondensation process of RF. The hydrophilicity of the sulfonated RF allowed KOH to infiltrate inside the microspheres, which enhanced the formation of mesopores in the carbon microspheres during the activation process by KOH. SEM and TEM observations and N2 adsorption measurements verified the formation of abundant mesopores in the porous carbon microspheres. The BET surface area of these mesoporous carbons exceeded 2000 m2/ g. In 17 m NaClO4 “water-in-salt” (WIS) electrolyte-based supercapacitor, the synthesized mesoporous carbon exhibited high specific capacitance of 170 F/g at current density of 0.5 A/g, comparable to those in regular KOH electrolyte. When graphite was used as current collectors, the symmetric cell could operate at 2.5 V, and the mesoporous carbon exhibited an energy density of 43 Wh/kg at power density of 0.25 kW/kg, and 25 Wh/kg at power density of 6.25 kW/kg, respectively, which were superior to those using Pt or stainless steel as current collectors. The mesoporous carbon/graphite was an excellent electrode in new-generation “WIS” electrolyte-based high-voltage supercapacitor due to their high energy and power density.

High-performance carbon materials were prepared via a one-step molten salt carbonization of tobacco waste used as electrode materials for supercapacitors. Carbon material prepared by carbonization for 3 h in molten CaCl2 at 850 °C exhibits hierarchically porous structure and ideal capacitive behavior. In a three-electrode configuration with 1 mol L− 1 H2SO4 aqueous solution, it delivers specific capacitance of 196.5 F g− 1 at 0.2 A g− 1, energy density of 27.2 Wh kg− 1 at 0.2 A g− 1, power density of 983.5 W kg− 1 at 2 A g− 1, and excellent cyclic stability with 94% capacitance retention after 5000 charge–discharge cycles at 1 A g− 1. Moreover, in a symmetrical two-electrode configuration with 6 mol L− 1 KOH aqueous solution, it delivers specific capacitance of 111.1 F g− 1 at 0.2 A g− 1, energy density of 3.8 Wh kg− 1 at 0.2 A g− 1, and power density of 482.0 W kg− 1 at 2 A g− 1. The relationship between hierarchically porous structure and capacitive performance is also discussed.

The current study was intended to synthesize and characterize the physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of carbon/ carbon (C/C) composites using the chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) process. To that end, carbon fiber felt (CF) was used as a preform, and methane and hydrogen were employed as reactive and carrier gases, respectively. After deciding on the optimum temperature (1050 °C), the composite samples were produced at different times (0–195 h). Then the samples were studied for their phase and microstructure characteristics using XRD, SEM, FESEM, FTIR, and Raman spectroscope. The results showed that by increasing the CVI process time up to 195 h, the density of the produced samples increased from 0.20 to 1.62 g/cm3, and the specific surface area decreased from 58.78 to 0.23 m2/ g. Also, by increasing the process duration, the deposition rate decreased due to the reduction of the available surface for carbon deposition. In other words, due to the increase in density, and decrease in both porosity and specific surface area, the thermal conductivity coefficient and the bending strength of the samples increased. The composite specimens’ SEM images of the fracture surface indicated a weak interface between the carbon fibers and the carbon layer developed by the CVI process. The structural analyses showed that the morphology of carbon growth during the CVI process was initially laminar, but changed to rough-laminar (RL) with the higher duration of the CVI process.

Herein, a new and generic strategy has been proposed to introduce uniformly distributed graphitic carbon into the nanostructured metal oxide. A facile and generic synthetic protocol has been proposed to introduce uniformly distributed conducting graphitic carbon into the Co3O4 nanoparticles ( Co3O4 NPs@graphitic carbon). The prepared Co3O4 NPs@graphitic carbon has been drop casted onto the portable screen-printed electrode (SPE) to realize its potential application in the individual and simultaneous quantification of toxic Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions present in aqueous solution. The proposed Co3O4 NPs@graphitic carbon-based electrochemical sensor exhibits a wide linear range from 0 to 120 ppb with limit of detection of 3.2 and 3.5 ppb towards the simultaneous detection of Pb(II) and Cd(II), which falls well below threshold limit prescribed by WHO.

The production of macroalgae-derived adsorbent is of great importance to realize the idea of treating pollutants with invaluable renewable materials. Herein, a novel meso-micro porous nano-activated carbon was prepared from green alga Ulava lactuca in a facile way via chemical activation with zinc chloride. The resultant activated carbon possesses a significant specific surface area 1486.3 m2/ g. The resulting activated carbon was characterized and investigated for the adsorption of Direct Red 23 (DR23) dye from an aqueous environment. Batch method was conducted to study the effects of different adsorption processes on the DR23 dye adsorption from water. Isotherms and kinetics models were investigated for the adsorption process of DR23 dye. It was found that the adsorption data were well fitted by Langmuir model showing a monolayer adsorption capacity 149.26 mg/g. Kinetic experiments revealed that the adsorptions of DR23 dye can be described with pseudo-secondorder model showing a good correlation (R2 > 0.997). The prepared activated carbon from Ulava lactuca was exposed to a total of six regeneration experiments. The regeneration result proved that the fabricated activated carbon only loses 19% of its adsorption capacity after six cycles. These results clearly demonstrated the high ability of the obtained active carbon to absorb anionic dyes from the aqueous environment.

To improve the pyrolytic carbon (PyC) deposition rate of Carbon/Carbon (C/C) composites prepared by the traditional chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) method, the 3D Ni/wood-carbon (3D Ni/C) catalyst was introduced into the CVI process. The effects of catalyst on the density of C/C composites were studied, and the deposition rate and morphologies of PyC were investigated after catalytic CVI. The morphologies of catalyst and PyC were characterized by scanning electron microscope and polarized light microscopy. The catalytic deposition mechanism of PyC was studied by density functional theory. The experimental results show that the initial carbon deposition efficiency of the catalytic pyrolysis process was 3–4 times that of the noncatalytic process. The catalyst reduced the energy barrier in the first step of deposition reaction from 382.55 to 171.67 kJ/mol according to simulation results. The pyrolysis reaction energy with Ni catalyst is reduced by 54% than that without the catalyst.

Fluorescent nanostructures based on carbon, or carbon dots, are attracting much attention and interest because of their diverse properties which can be applied in several fields of knowledge, such as optics, biomedicine, environmental research, among others. Such properties are in part, derived from its intrinsic luminescence from tunable functional groups. In this work, we produced carbon nanodots (CND) using agro-industrial residues, such as Lolium perenne and malt bagasse. The methods used were conventional hydrothermal syntheses and microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that carbon dots synthesized from this ryegrass type are reported. The synthesis methods were one step (no catalyst, base, or acid were added for passivation), and the functional groups responsible for the luminescence and high solubility in water were identified by infrared spectroscopy, being mainly C=O, C–OH, C–N, and N–H. According to our theoretical studies, the C=O group introduced a new energy level for electronic transitions that can affect the emission properties. Fluorescence images of osteoblasts using CNDs were acquired and their chelating property towards Pb2+ and Cr6+ detection was tested.

An extract of fresh guava leaves (Psidium guajava) was used as a green carbon precursor to fabricate blue fluorescent carbon quantum dots (GCQDs) by hydrothermal process. The GCQDs show bright blue fluorescence emission under UV light with an excitation wavelength of 350 nm and emission at 450 nm. The physical structure of GCQDs was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), High-resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). GCQDs 80 μg inhibited the growth of waterborne pathogens Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi. We also investigated the catalytic activity of the GCQDs on the removal of two azo dyes, namely Congo red and bromophenol blue, with and without NaBH4. The GCQDs showed an excellent reduction of color intensity of both dyes without NaBH4 within 30 min of treatment.

The pore structure of pitch-based activated carbon prepared by physical activation was improved by nitric acid treatment of pitch. The nitric acid treatment introduced oxygen and nitrogen functional groups on pitch, and increased pitch molecular weight by cross-linking. The introduced oxygen and nitrogen functional groups on pitch were removed during the carbonization process, so they did not directly affect the physical activation process. The increased pitch molecular weight induced an increase of the pitch softening point. The increased softening point prevented rearrangement between the pitch molecules during the carbonization process, thereby inhibiting the orientation improvement of pitch molecules. The crystal degree of the carbonized pitch was reduced due to the inhibition of the orientation improvement. The reduced crystal degree increased reactivity between carbonized pitch and activation agent ( CO2) and formed micropores, so that activated carbon with a high specific surface area could be prepared.

The carbon-based nanostructures are in limelight due to their widespread applications in nano-to-micro-scale technologies. The carbon dots are known for their unique physical, electrical, optical, chemical and biological properties. The carbon dots (CDs) are being produced through several well-developed synthesis methods, one of which is the green sonochemical. This method is preferred over others because it is a green source of energy, facile, fast, low-temperature process, non-toxic and less expensive. Despite the fact of using 90% less energy than other methods, this method has been overlooked in the published literature. It is possible to prepare pure and doped CDs of low toxicity and controlled physicochemical properties through sonochemical method. In recent years, sonochemically produced CDs have been tuned and characterized for a variety of applications. This review has explored the merits and demerits of sonochemical method in comparison to the other methods for the synthesis of pure CDs and their nanocomposites. The role of multiple factors in tailoring the specific parameters of CDs for their application in antibacterial, polymerization, tissue engineering, catalysis, bio-imagining, supercapacitors, drug delivery and electric devices is also elaborated in this review. This review also concludes on future directions in the applications of sonochemically produced CDs.

The fuel efficiency was 16.77km/L on average for D-ENG and 12.97 km/L for B-ENG. The fuel efficiency of D-ENG was 22.66% higher than that of B-ENG. NOX had an average D-ENG of 191.75ppm and B-ENG of 104ppm. NOX of D-ENG occurred 145.76% more than B-ENG. The amount of CO2 generated was 154.25ppm for D-ENG and 199ppm for B-ENG. CO2 of D-ENG occurred 29.01% less than B-ENG. From this, it was found that the higher the fuel efficiency, the higher the emission of nitrogen oxide and the lower the emission of carbon dioxide decreased.

Fibrous supercapacitors (FSs), owing to their high power density, good safety characteristic, and high flexibility, have recently been in the spotlight as energy storage devices for wearable electronics. However, despite these advantages, FCs face many challenges related to their active material of carbon fiber (CF). CF has low surface area and poor wettability between electrode and electrolyte, which result in low capacitance and poor long-term stability at high current densities. To overcome these limits, fibrous supercapacitors made using surface-activated CF (FS-SACF) are here suggested; these materials have improved specific surface area and better wettability, obtained by introducing porous structure and oxygen-containing functional groups on the CF surface, respectively, through surface engineering. The FS-SACF shows an improved ion diffusion coefficient and better electrochemical performance, including high specific capacity of 223.6 mF cm2 at current density of 10 μA cm2, high-rate performance of 171.2 mF cm2 at current density of 50.0 μA cm2, and remarkable, ultrafast cycling stability (96.2 % after 1,000 cycles at current density of 250.0 μA cm2). The excellent electrochemical performance is definitely due to the effects of surface functionalization on CF, leading to improved specific surface area and superior ion diffusion capability.

This study was carried out to investigate the proper wattage and installation distance for the efficient use of nano-carbon fiber infrared heating lamp (NCFIHL), a heating device advantageous for heating energy saving, when the production of watermelon plug seedlings in the plug seedling nursery in winter season. Six small beds were divided into plastic film, and 700 W and 900 W nano-carbon fiber infrared heating lamps were installed at 100 cm above the bed. 1 lamp at central (control), 60 cm interval (2 lamps), and 40 cm interval (3 lamps) heating lamps were installed in each bed inside the greenhouse. All treatments, except the control, were set to keep the night air temperature at 20℃ after lighting the NCFIHL. The leaf temperature showed a tendency to increase fast as the install distance was narrow. The leaf length and leaf width tended to increase as the installation distance of the 700 W heating lamp was narrow. The compactness was high in 700 W heating lamp with 40 cm of installation distance. Therefore, in consideration of maintaining the set temperature at night, installing 700 W electric lamps at 40 cm was an efficient power and installation distance for watermelon grafted seedlings considering economic feasibility.

This study proposes a low-cycle fatigue life derived from measurement points on pipe elbows, which are components that are vulnerable to seismic load in the interface piping systems of nuclear power plants that use seismic isolation systems. In order to quantitatively define limit states regarding leakage, i.e., actual failure caused by low-cycle fatigue, in-plane cyclic loading tests were performed using a sine wave of constant amplitude. The test specimens consisted of SCH40 6-inch carbon steel pipe elbows and straight pipes, and an image processing method was used to measure the nonlinear behavior of the test specimens. The leakage lines caused by low-cycle fatigue and the low-cycle fatigue curves were compared and analyzed using the relationship between the relative deformation angles, which were measured based on each of the measurement points on the straight pipe, and the moment, which was measured at the center of the pipe elbow. Damage indices based on the combination of ductility and dissipation energy at each measurement point were used to quantitatively express the time at which leakage occurs due to through-wall cracking in the pipe elbow.

Namnabat et al. (cf., [Carbon Letters, https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-020-00194-2]) employ the classical approach of Li and Chou (cf., [Int J Solids Struct 40: 2487–2499]) to the implementation of the molecular structural mechanics method using the Bernoulli–Euler beam elements for nonlinear buckling analysis of double-layered graphene nanoribbons. However, more recent studies by Eberhardt and Wallmersperger (cf., [Carbon 95: 166–180]) and others (see, e.g., [Int J Eng Sci 133: 109–131]) have shown that the classical approach of Li and Chou poorly reproduces both in-plane and out-of-plane mechanical moduli of graphene. We have shown that the 2D beam-based hexagonal material used by Namnabat et al. poorly simulates the mechanical moduli of graphene, especially the bending rigidity modulus, and this material cannot be used for the buckling simulation of graphene sheets (or nanoribbons). In addition, it is noted that in Int J Eng Sci 133: 109–131, a modification of the classical approach of Li and Chou is given which exactly reproduces both in-plane (2D Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio) and out-of-plane (bending rigidity modulus) mechanical moduli of graphene using beam elements.