Lignin-Derived Graphene-Like Carbon Nanosheets as an Efficient Catalyst Support for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

Abstract

Bio-renewable lignin has been used as a precursor for the preparation of various carbon materials, such as carbon fibers, ordered mesoporous carbon and graphite carbon cages. Nevertheless, up to now, there are few studies about prepare graphene-like carbon nanosheets derived from lignin. In this study, we synthesized graphene-like carbon nanosheets, using lignin as the precursor, via one-step pyrolysis route. Fortunately, physical and chemical characterization results indicate that it has high pore volume and hierarchical pore with wrinkled sheet graphene structure. Furthermore, the capability of graphene-like carbon nanosheets was investigated as a catalyst support in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The results of catalytic evaluation show that Fe2O3/GCNs has excellent catalytic activity and the selectivity of lower olefins, compared with Fe2O3/AC.