Emerging Trends in Biomass-Derived Carbon-Supported Metal Nanostructures as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Critical Electrochemical Reactions in Low Temperature Fuel Cell Applications

The increasing demand for energy sources and their environmental impacts are the major driving forces in developing sustainable electrochemical energy conversion technology. The cost and energy efficiency of materials for electrochemical energy conversion are critical factors in addressing the energy crisis and ensuring sustainability. Biomass-derived carbon materials (biochar carbon) have considerable importance as efficient carbon-based electrode materials for key electrochemical reactions in low temperature fuel cell (LTFC) applications. Biochar carbon compounds have greater compatibility and can be further activated through heat and chemical treatment to improve catalytic performance. With its abundant functional groups, high porosity surface formation, tunable microarchitectures, and eco-friendliness, biochar is a promising candidate as a sustainable carbon material for LTFCs. Furthermore, key electrochemical reactions, such as oxygen reduction reaction, methanol oxidation reaction, and ethanol oxidation reaction, necessitate exceptionally effective electrocatalysts due to their complex and multistep reaction mechanisms. In this chapter, we aimed to correlate the physiochemical properties of biochar carbon materials with and without metal nanostructures for catalytic electrochemical reactions in LTFC applications, including the biochar carbon material source and treatment.