Biomass Group, Nanjing Agricultural University, PO Box 68, 40 Dianjiangtai Road, Nanjing 210031

Joule heating for carbon material Synthesis: Mechanisms, material evolution, and sustainable prospects

Recently, under the supervision of Associate Professor Wei Chen, master’s student Miss Zijun Pan published a review article titled “Joule heating for carbon material Synthesis: Mechanisms, material evolution, and sustainable prospects” in an international academic journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.

This comprehensive review systematically explores the research progress and application potential of Joule heating as an emerging electrothermal technique for carbon material synthesis. By integrating multiple perspectives—including material synthesis, mechanistic simulation, and sustainability assessment-the article highlights the highly efficient tunability of Joule heating in the preparation of various carbon materials such as graphitic carbon, flash graphene, and carbon nanotubes, and elaborates on heteroatom-doping and metal-loading functionalization strategies. Furthermore, by combining machine learning and multiscale simulations, the study elucidates the structural evolution mechanisms of materials under extreme thermal conditions. Through life-cycle assessment (LCA), it also verifies the remarkable economic and environmental advantages of this technique, providing a theoretical foundation and technological pathway for the green manufacturing of carbon materials.

The results were published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews:

Pan Z, et al. Joule heating for carbon material synthesis: Mechanisms, material evolution, and sustainable prospects. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2026, 116290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2025.116290

Joule heating for carbon material Synthesis

焦耳加热合成碳材料：机理、演化与可持续前景

最近，生物能源组硕士生潘子君在陈伟副教授的指导下，在国际学术期刊‌Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (Q1, IF=16.3) 发表了一篇题为焦耳加热合成碳材料：机理、演化与可持续前景的综述论文。

本综述系统探讨了焦耳加热作为一种新兴电热技术在碳材料合成中的研究进展与应用潜力。通过整合材料合成、机理模拟与可持续性评估等多维度内容，文章重点分析了焦耳加热在石墨碳、闪蒸石墨烯、碳纳米管等多种碳材料制备中的高效调控能力，并阐述了其在杂原子掺杂与金属负载方面的功能化策略。研究进一步结合机器学习与多尺度模拟揭示了极端热条件下材料结构的演化机制，并通过生命周期评估验证了该技术在经济性与环境友好性方面的显著优势，为推动碳材料绿色制造提供了理论依据与技术路径。

结果发表在‌Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews：

Pan Z, et al. Joule heating for carbon material synthesis: Mechanisms, material evolution, and sustainable prospects. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2026, 116290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2025.116290

Stainless steel catalyzed pyrolysis of waste oil: Biofuel production, catalyst regeneration and environmental assessment

Recently, Master graduate student Mr. Guo-qiang Zhu (currently a PhD student at City University of Hong Kong) supervised by Associate Prof. Lu-jiang Xu and Prof. Zhen Fang published a research article in Chemical Engineering Journal about stainless steel catalyzed pyrolysis of waste cooking oil.

Valorizing waste cooking oil into biofuels not only achieves renewable green fuels but mitigates waste disposal. Here, we demonstrate a catalytic pyrolysis process using novel regenerable austenitic stainless steel catalysts containing Fe (II) and Fe (III) active phases. Firstly, an activated SS catalyst with austenite Fe and metal oxides showed outstanding deoxygenation performance, directionally promoting the enrichment of alkene. And then, optimal pyrolysis conditions were investigated via response surface methodology and determined as temperature 550 °C, single catalyst layer and feeding rate 3 mL/h. Besides, catalyst exhibited exceptional cyclic stability over 10 consecutive cycles, attributed to its unique coke-mediated regeneration mechanism. Distinguished with active surface sites, the regenerated catalyst recovered the catalytic activity and made coke deposits form carbon nanotube structure where the regeneration mechanism was proposed in terms of experimental results and characteristics of coke and catalyst. Eventually, life cycle assessment was conducted stressing on the reduction of global warming potential and environment impact for whole process and sensitivity of key parameters. Overall, this work provides fundamental insights into coke-catalyst interactions while establishing an industrially viable pathway for sustainable biofuel production.

Related results were accepted in Chemical Engineering Journal：

Stainless steel catalyzed pyrolysis of waste oil to Biofuels

不锈钢催化废弃油脂热解：生物燃料生产、催化剂再生和环境评估

最近，硕士毕业生祝国强，现为香港城市大学在读博士研究生，在徐禄江副教授和方真教授的指导下，在国际学术期刊Chemical Engineering Journal (Q1, IF=13.2) 发表了一篇关于不锈钢催化废弃油脂热解的研究性论文。

将废弃食用油转化为生物燃料，不仅可以获得可再生的绿色燃料，还可以减少废物处理。本文展示了一种采用新型可再生奥氏体不锈钢催化剂的催化热解工艺，该催化剂含有 Fe(II) 和 Fe(III) 活性相。首先，含有奥氏体和金属氧化物的不锈钢催化剂表现出优异的脱氧性能，定向促进了烯烃的富集。然后，通过响应面法优化了最佳热解条件，确定了最优条件为温度 550 ℃、单层催化剂和进料速率 3 mL/h。此外，由于其独特的积炭介导再生机制，催化剂在连续 10 次循环中表现出优异的循环稳定性。由于活性表面位点的存在，再生催化剂恢复了催化活性，并使积炭沉积形成碳纳米管结构，并根据实验结果以及积炭和催化剂的表征结果提出了再生机理。最后，对整个工艺进行了生命周期评估，重点关注降低全流程的全球变暖潜能值和环境影响，以及关键参数的敏感性。这项研究为焦炭-催化剂相互作用提供了基础性见解，同时也为可持续生物燃料生产提供了重要途径。

结果发表在Chemical Engineering Journal：

G Zhu, H. Xu, J. Zhang, G. Xie, Z. Fang, L. Xu*. Stainless steel catalyzed pyrolysis of waste oil: Biofuel production, catalyst regeneration and environmental assessment. Chemical Engineering Journal（IF=13.2）(2025) 167020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.167020