Zaka Ullah- Department of Physics, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Lahore, Pakistan
Editorial on the Research Topic
2022 retrospective, carbon-based materials
Carbon is a brand element in the field of materials science, well-known for its versatility and unusual characteristics (Inagaki et al., 2014). It has reshaped the materials around us, with better performance for advanced technological applications (Lan et al., 2021). During the last 2 decades, graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) remained the two most extensively used materials in materials science. When carbon in the form of carbon nanostructures, graphene, or carbon nanotubes (CNTs), is combined with other materials, it can significantly enhance their properties particularly the structural, electrical, optical, mechanical, thermal, and magnetic, making them suitable for applications ranging from electronics to environmental, and aerospace (Chowdhury et al., 2018; Gopinath et al., 2021). Carbon materials are considered as essential in all modern research fields where these play a critical role in the development of auspicious technologies and potential solutions for the modern challenges (Chung, 2004; Liang et al., 2008; Balandin, 2011; Zhai et al., 2011; Titirici et al., 2015; Lan et al., 2021).
Figure 1A shows the increasing trends of carbon materials with passage of time. As per Scopus database, the first paper with word “carbon” in title was published in 1863. The number of publications increased significantly from 1970 to 1990. However, these increased exceptionally afterward, and a total number of 50,350 research items were published in 2023. Materials science remained the dominant field for these contributions, following by Chemistry, Engineering, and Physics and Astronomy, as depicted in Figure 1B. It is very important and interesting to mention here that these are publications with only word “carbon” in title; if we search the word(s) “graphene” or ‘carbon nanotube” in Scopus database, we respectively get the numbers 182,934 and 118,146, which are in addition to papers on “carbon”.
Figure 1. (A) Number of documents in Scopus database for keyword “carbon” in document title; (B) key subject areas as per scientific contributions of these publications.
Owing to great significance of carbon materials, a section of Frontiers in Materials has been dedicated to the Carbon-Based Materials. A Research Topic, “2022 Retrospective: Carbon-Based Materials,” was proposed to attribute the contributions of carbon materials. In this Research Topic, five research documents were published. The first research article was published by Karami, et al. on Conversion of Waste Corn Biomass to Activated Bio-Char for Applications in Wastewater Treatment. The report demonstrates the conversion of waste corn to biochar which was further investigated for its potential applications. Authors have shown that the adsorption response of activated biochar was comparable to that with typical commercial activated carbon. The resultant product is very important and may offer its auspicious potential particularly in energy applications. The report is very useful for study of biochar assembly through facile and cost-effective methodology.
The second research article was published by Quqa et al. on Pressure Mapping Using Nanocomposite-Enhanced Foam and Machine Learning. The report suggests efficient machine learning strategies (radial basis function networks and deep neural networks) to effectively address the inverse electrical impedance tomography issues. The research is very fruitful in enhancing the resolution of reconstructed pressure maps. It is interesting to mention that the researchers have used carbon nanotubes for device fabrication. The study very beautifully presents the applications of carbon materials in medical domains through machine learning. This report is a good answer to question which may arise in many minds while having a look on Figure 1, that what could be the applications of carbon materials in computer science!
The third article in this Research Topic is a review article published by Mukherjee et al. on Synthesis of Biochar From Lignocellulosic Biomass for Diverse Industrial Applications and Energy Harvesting: Effects of Pyrolysis Conditions on the Physicochemical Properties of Biochar. The article is useful particularly for early-stage researchers that are going to learn the preparation of biochar from biomass for further use in energy applications. The article includes valuable citations for the demonstrated study, and may offer various useful ideas for energy production from biochar at industrial scale. Moreover, the review provides worthy contents for physicochemical features of biochar.
The fourth article was a mini review by Caballero-Briones et al. on International research in graphene-oxide based materials for net-zero energy, military and aeronautic applications catalysed by Tamaulipas, Mexico: a mini review. The article is unique as per its contents ranging from zero energy to aeronautic applications, summarizing the extreme potential of graphene-oxide (carbon), especially for photovoltaic, photocatalytic, thermonuclear, and aeronautic applications. An important aspect of the review is that it highlights the overseas collaborations for leveraging the materials synthesis for desired outcomes.
The final article by Bumajdad et al. is also a review article on Nitrogen-enriched activated carbon derived from plant biomasses: a review on reaction mechanism and applications in wastewater treatment. This article enlightens the process for assembly of carbon from plant biomass which could be very fruitful for researchers working in this area of research with insufficient research facilities and resources. The article has discussions about the methodologies and involved reaction mechanisms for nitrogen enrichment of activated carbon. The review provides valuable findings and deep understandings about basis of the demonstrated study.
Although, the articles in this proposed Research Topic are very limited as per broadness and scope of carbon materials, however, it acknowledges the contributions of carbon materials towards diversity of research directions. The Research Topic could specifically be beneficial for early-stage researchers at academia and industries for their understandings, research trainings and directions for future research particularly on carbon materials for energy applications.
Author contributions
ZU: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing.
Conflict of interest
The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The author declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
References
Balandin, A. A. (2011). Thermal properties of graphene and nanostructured carbon materials. Nat. Mater. 10 (8), 569–581. doi:10.1038/nmat3064
Chowdhury, P., Sehitoglu, H., and Rateick, R. (2018). Damage tolerance of carbon-carbon composites in aerospace application. Carbon, 126, 382–393. doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2017.10.019
Chung, D. D. L. (2004). Electrical applications of carbon materials. J. Mater. Sci. 39 (8), 2645–2661. doi:10.1023/B:JMSC.0000021439.18202.ea
Gopinath, K. P., Vo, D.-V. N., Gnana Prakash, D., Adithya Joseph, A., Viswanathan, S., and Arun, J. (2021). Environmental applications of carbon-based materials: a review. Environ. Chem. Lett. 19 (1), 557–582. doi:10.1007/s10311-020-01084-9
Inagaki, M., Kang, F., Toyoda, M., and Konno, H. (2014). Advanced materials science and engineering of carbon. MRS Bull. 39 (11), 1018. doi:10.1557/mrs.2014.271
Lan, G., Yang, J., Ye, R.-P., Boyjoo, Y., Liang, J., Liu, X., et al. (2021). Sustainable carbon materials toward emerging applications. Small Methods, 5(5), 2001250. doi:10.1002/smtd.202001250
Liang, C., Li, Z., and Dai, S. (2008). Mesoporous carbon materials: synthesis and modification. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 47(20), 3696–3717. doi:10.1002/anie.200702046
Titirici, M.-M., White, R. J., Brun, N., Budarin, V. L., Su, D. S., del Monte, F., et al. (2015). Sustainable carbon materials. Chem. Soc. Rev. 44 (1), 250–290. doi:10.1039/C4CS00232F
Keywords: carbon, carbon materials, retrospective, graphene, CNTs
Citation: Ullah Z (2024) Editorial: 2022 retrospective, carbon-based materials. Front. Mater. 11:1438039. doi: 10.3389/fmats.2024.1438039
Received: 24 May 2024; Accepted: 24 June 2024;
Published: 08 July 2024.
Edited and reviewed by:
Dimitrios Gournis, University of Ioannina, GreeceCopyright © 2024 Ullah. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Zaka Ullah, zaka.ullah@ue.edu.pk