Two Birds with One Stone: One-Pot Conversion of Waste Biomass into N-Doped Porous Biochar for Efficient Formaldehyde Adsorption

Converting agricultural solid waste into porous biochar for HCHO adsorption is considered as a “two birds with one stone” strategy, which can achieve the environmental goal of “treating waste with waste”. Unfortunately, the HCHO adsorption performance of pristine biochar is generally unsatisfactory, which is derived from its poor surface activity and insufficient number of pores. In this study, a series of nitrogen-doped porous biochars with adjustable N-containing groups and porosity were synthesized by one-step pyrolysis of melamine and waste jujube pit in different mass ratios (NBC-x, x represented the mass ratio of melamine to waste jujube pit, x = 4–12) for HCHO adsorption. The HCHO adsorption tests indicated that the insertion of nitrogen-containing species improved the adsorption capacity of pristine biochar (BC). However, after the insertion of excessive nitrogen-containing species, the porosity of the samples significantly decreased due to the blockage of pores, which could be disadvantageous for HCHO adsorption. DFT calculation results showed that N doping (especially pyrrolic-N) significantly increased the maxima of absolute ESP values of the carbonaceous models and consequently enhanced the affinity between polar HCHO and carbonaceous models (varied from −20.65 kJ/mol to −33.26 kJ/mol). Thus, the NBC-8 possessing both substantial nitrogen content (19.81 wt. %) and developed porosity (specific surface area of 223 m2/g) exhibited the highest HCHO uptake of 6.30 mg/g. This was approximately 6.4 times larger than that of BC. This work not only deepens the understanding of the HCHO adsorption mechanism at molecular scale, but also concurrently offers a facile and eco-friendly route of N-doped porous biochar preparation, an efficient technology with high-value utilization of waste biomass resources, and a sustainable method of pollution remediation.