Invited Speaker
Prof. Mariusz Barczak
Faculty of Chemistry, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, 20031 Lublin, PolandSpeech Title: Nanoporous Carbon Textiles: Precise Design of Porosity and Surface Chemistry for Wide Range of Applications
Abstract: Nanoporous carbon textiles (NCTs) are very promising materials in many applications including wearable electronic devices, sensors or adsorbents, as they have a wide range of advantages including high conductivity, flexibility, and low cost [1]. Due to developed porous structure and surface chemistry they do not need to undergo aggressive exfoliation (such as a modified Hummers method used for graphene) or aggressive chemical activation (used for nonporous carbon fibers). NCTs can also be used to fabricate advanced nanocomposites, e.g. based on MOFs or recently reported by us carbon-sulfur nanocomposites [2]; cf. Fig. 1).
Figure 1. Schematic presentation of the sulfur insertion scheme
The lecture discusses the results of targeted modification and various uses of NCTs including their application as adsorbents for a wide range of pollutants, both those present in water (e.g. cytostatic drugs from hospital effluents) and in air (formaldehyde [3]). The adsorption of model chemical warfare agents on carbon textiles will also be shown as well as their use as supercapacitors [4]. Apart the porous structure, the presence of particular oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur functional groups on the surface plays an important role in governing their efficiency in the above-mentioned applications. The discussed results demonstrate that the specifically designed surface modifications of carbon textiles can convert them into efficient and multifunctional materials for wide range of applications.
References:
[1] D.A. Giannakoudakis et al., Chem. Eng. J. 362 (2019) 758–766.
[2] M. Barczak et al., Adv. Func. Mat. 34 (2023) 2310398.
[3] G. de Falco et al., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 10 (2018) 8066–8076.
Keywords: Nanoporous carbon textiles, carbon fibers, porosity, carbon-sulfur composites, surface chemistry, adsorption, water purification, air purification.
Acknowledgements: This research was funded by the National Science Centre (Poland), grant no. 2023/51/B/ST5/01911 titled Novel sulfur-tuned advanced carbons: synthesis, characterization and applications.
Biography: Prof. Mariusz Barczak is working in the field of porous and hybrid nanomaterials for emerging applications. For more than two decades, he has run research on advanced functional nanostructures, with a particular focus on surface engineering and the design of tailored materials for environmental remediation, energy storage, and biomedical technologies. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications (H-index = 30), cited more than 3,500 times, and has been ranked among the Stanford&Elsevier World’s Top 2% Scientists from 2020. Prof. Barczak has carried out research and scientific collaborations at leading international institutions, including Stanford University, NASA Ames Research Center, The City College of New York, University of Granada, and Dublin City University. Throughout his career, he has successfully led and coordinated research projects with a total value exceeding USD 5 million, strengthening international scientific cooperation and advancing innovative materials research at the global level, collaborating widely with academia and industry.