Porous carbon modified with sulfur in energy related applications

Depletion of fossil fuels, and associated with their usage global warming, needs for energy storage and harvesting, as well as high costs and detrimental environmental effects of metal-based catalyst directed the attention of scientists to carbon materials. So far, for these applications, an emphasis has been mainly on graphene and on modifications of its chemical and electronic properties with heteroatoms such as N, P, or S. That graphene, to enhance its surface properties, often needs to be modified not only chemically but also to increase its surface area and porosity. Taking it into account, and to promote simple and inexpensive materials, the focus of this review is on recent applications of porous carbons modified with sulfur in energy related applications. The obvious assets of these materials compared to graphene are their porosity and costs. We focus on sulfur doping and impregnation since this approach is relatively new, and promising results on applications of such materials as cathodes and anodes for lithium and sodium ion batteries, supercapacitors, ORR catalysts, photocatalysts, photosensitizers, and CO2 reduction media have been reported. Our intention is to briefly summarize recent findings and to stimulate further research on the properties and cutting edge applications of porous carbons that should still be considered as exciting materials of promising future.

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