Yeast-Based Microporous Carbon Materials for Carbon Dioxide Capture

A hierarchical microporous carbon material with a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area of 1348 m2 g−1 and a pore volume of 0.67 cm3 g−1 was prepared from yeast through chemical activation with potassium hydroxide. This type of material contains large numbers of nitrogen‐containing groups (nitrogen content >5.3 wt %), and, consequently, basic sites. As a result, this material shows a faster adsorption rate and a higher adsorption capacity of CO2 than the material obtained by directly carbonizing yeast under the same conditions. The difference is more pronounced in the presence of N2 or H2O, showing that chemical activation of discarded yeast with potassium hydroxide could afford high‐performance microporous carbon materials for the capture of CO2. A baker's recipe: Hierarchical microporous carbon materials prepared from yeast activated with KOH show excellent CO2‐capture capacity as a result of large numbers of nitrogen‐containing groups and high surface area and pore volume. The amount of CO2 adsorbed is higher, and the rate of adsorption is faster, than when directly carbonizing the same yeast.