Ultrasonic-assisted fungi modification of lignocellulose-derived hierarchical porous carbon for efficient desalination

Biomass materials have received increasing attention due to their eco-friendly, high availability and low costs. However, these biomass materials have stubborn structural characteristics, which require specific pretreatment methods to promote practical value. Herein, we reported a novel strategy of ultrasonic-fungi pretreatment of lignocellulose to obtain biomass-based hierarchical porous carbon (LSC-FU). The structure of LSC-FU enables the fabricated electrode to exhibit high conductivity and rapid ion transport properties, with capacitance retention of 99.7 % after 5000 consecutive cycles. And it shows a high adsorption capacity (500 mg·L −1 ) of 29.39 mg·g −1 with a 94.6 % adsorption capacity retention rate in the electrosorption test. The lignocellulose-based porous carbon electrodes obtained by this effective pretreatment method have great potential for the practical application of CDI. This work provides original outlooks to prepare high-performance carbon electrodes. It emphasizes the significance of sustainable development and green environmental protection by using natural biomass materials to prepare porous carbon materials. • Ultrasound-assisted fungi pretreatment existed synergistic effect on lignocellulose degradation. • Activated carbon materials with layered honeycomb structure prepared from pretreated lignocellulose. • The capacitance retention of carbon material is 99.7 % after 5000 consecutive cycles. • The adsorption capacity of carbon material is 29.39 mg·g −1 with a 94.6 % adsorption capacity retention rate.