Worldwide growing commercial interests in applying carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in diverse applications, such as batteries, sensors, catalyst supports, thermal electronics, and high-strength composites, have dramatically expanded the demand for higher CNT production capacity. However, current CNT production is still dominated by relatively high-cost chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods, which usually involve high temperatures, expensive catalysts, and substantial quantities of nonrenewable petroleum-derived carbon sources. Here, we report that highly dense carbon nanotubes can be derived from yeast-fermented wheat dough scaffolds via a simple, green, and sustainable activation process without using any additional catalysts or extra carbon sources. When the activated wheat dough/carbon nanotube (AWD/CNT) scaffold is used as a sulfur host to prepare cathode for lithium–sulfur (Li–S) battery, the assembled Li–S cell exhibited excellent cyclic performance, with a well-retained capacity of ∼450 mA h g^–1 even after 1500 cycles at a high charge/discharge rate of 1 C. A “self-catalysis” growth mechanism is proposed to explain the formation of the yeast-derived CNTs. Our new findings represent a paradigm shift in developing CNTs and provide a promising solution to obtain advanced renewable carbon materials from natural and abundant biomass materials for use in energy storage applications.

中文翻译：

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酵母发酵小麦粉衍生的碳纳米管及其储能应用

在诸如电池，传感器，催化剂载体，热电子学和高强度复合材料等各种应用中应用碳纳米管（CNT）的全球商业兴趣日益增长，极大地提高了对更高CNT生产能力的需求。但是，当前的CNT生产仍由相对昂贵的化学气相沉积（CVD）方法控制，该方法通常涉及高温，昂贵的催化剂和大量不可再生的石油衍生碳源。在这里，我们报道高密度的碳纳米管可以通过简单，绿色和可持续的活化过程从酵母发酵的小麦面团支架中衍生而来，而无需使用任何其他催化剂或额外的碳源。即使在1 C的高充电/放电速率下经过1500个循环后，也仍为^–1。有人提出了一种“自催化”生长机制来解释源自酵母的CNT的形成。我们的新发现代表开发CNT的范式转变，并提供了一种有前途的解决方案，可以从天然和丰富的生物质材料中获得用于能源存储应用的高级可再生碳材料。