The development of the next generation of advanced lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) requires new & advanced materials and novel fabrication techniques in order to push the boundaries of performance and open up new and exciting markets. Structured carbon materials, with controlled pore features on the micron and nanometer scales, are explored as advanced alternatives to conventional graphite as the active material of the LIB anode. Mesoporous carbon materials, carbon nanotube-based materials, and graphene-based materials have been extensively investigated and reviewed. Morphology control (e.g., colloids, thin films, nanofibrous mats, monoliths) and hierarchical pores (particularly the presence of large pores) exhibit an increasing influence on LIB performance. This tutorial review focuses on the synthetic techniques for preparation of porous carbon spheres and carbon monoliths, including hydrothermal carbonization, emulsion templating, ice templating and new developments in making porous carbons from sustainable biomass and metal–organic framework templating. We begin with a brief introduction to LIBs, defining key parameters and terminology used to assess the performance of anode materials, and then address synthetic techniques for the fabrication of carbon spheres & monoliths and the relevant composites, followed, respectively, by a review of their performance as LIB anode materials. The review is completed with a prospective view on the possible direction of future research in this field.

Solution blow spinning (SBS) has emerged as a rapid and scalable technique for the production of polymeric and ceramic materials into micro/nano- fibers. Here, SBS was employed to produce sub-micron fibers of regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) from Bombyx mori (silkworm) cocoons based on formic acid or aqueous systems. Spinning in the presence of vapor permitted the production of fibers from aqueous solutions, and high alignment could be obtained by modifying the SBS set-up to give a concentrated channeled airflow. The combination of SBS and a thermally induced phase separation technique (TIPS) resulted in the production of macro/micro- porous fibers with 3D interconnected pores. Furthermore, a co-axial SBS system enabled a pH gradient and kosmotropic salts to be applied at the point of fiber formation, mimicking some of the aspects of the natural spinning process, fostering fiber formation by self-assembly of the spinning dope. This scalable and fast production of various types of silk based fibrous scaffolds could be suitable for a myriad of biomedical applications.

Ice-templating is utilized to prepare hierarchically porous carbon monolith with aligned macropores. N-doped and graphene-incorporated carbon composite can be easily produced, demonstrating a reversible capacity of about 300 mA h g⁻¹ at a high current density of 10 A g⁻¹.

Hierarchically porous sulfur-containing activated carbons were prepared by ice-templating from an aqueous sodium poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (Na-PSS) solution followed by a single 800 °C pyrolysis step. This thermal treatment induced crosslinking, with the in-situ generation of Na2SO4 (activating agent), before carbonization and activation. The thermal treatment also resulted in the formation of sulfur salts, which could be converted to elemental sulfur upon a simple HCl acid wash. The sulfur content in the monoliths measured by microanalysis could be increased from 17.07 wt. % to 39.74 wt. % by incorporating additional Na2SO4 into the monoliths prior to pyrolysis. The sulfur was uniformly dispersed within the micropores of the carbon, and could be selectively removed by degassing (heating under vacuum) at different temperatures, revealing specific surface areas of up to 1051 m2 g−1. The materials were characterized by various techniques and were also evaluated for their potential as cathode materials for the lithium–sulfur battery. This work may open up new and facile routes to prepare sulfur-containing porous carbons for applications where its presence is beneficial

The development of cost-effective and green enzyme immobilisation techniques will facilitate the adoption of continuous flow biocatalysis (CFB) by industry and academia. In this work, a relatively mild sulfite pulping process was employed to remove lignin and hemicellulose from wood with minimal disruption of its native porous structure, resulting in aligned macroporous cellulosic monoliths termed cellulose scaffolds (CSs). By engineering carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) onto the termini of recombinant proteins, the CSs could be employed as low-cost, renewable and biodegradable materials for enzyme immobilisation without any further chemical functionalisation. CBM-tagged fluorescent proteins were initially employed to demonstrate proof-of-principle and to optimise immobilisation conditions; this resulted in initial protein loadings as high as 5.24 wt% and immobilisation efficiencies as high as 97.1%. The process was then translated to a CBM-tagged ω-transaminase (ωTA) from Bacillus megaterium, obtaining enzyme loadings and immobilisation efficiencies as high as 3.99 wt% and 82.4%, respectively. A demonstrative CFB reaction with the immobilised CBM-tagged ωTA displayed ca. 95 ± 5% conversion efficiency relative to the free enzyme in solution under analogous conditions, suggesting that CBM-tagged recombinant enzymes immobilised on wood-derived CSs could potentially compete with other, more complex and costly enzyme immobilisation technologies.

An ice-templating & solvent exchange approach has been developed to prepare porous carbons with tuneable surface area and N contents. These porous carbons exhibit a high uptake of both CO₂ and H₂.