Ball-Milled Carbon Nanomaterials for Energy and Environmental Applications

With exceptional physicochemical properties, carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) have been widely applied in various energy and environmental applications including energy conversion, energy storage, and environmental remediation. Recent efforts have been made to prepare modified CNMs with improved electrical and chemical properties, hence broadening their potential applications. It is highly desirable to produce high-quality CNMs at a low cost and large scale, which remains a challenging task. Ball-milled CNMs (BM-CNMs) are a novel class of engineered materials that may provide new opportunities to satisfy the need. To promote the research on BM-CNMs, this work provides a comprehensive review on recent research development in (1) synthesis of various types of BM-CNMs, (2) effects of ball milling on physicochemical properties of BM-CNMs, and (3) energy and environmental applications of BM-CNMs. Different ball-milling processes for preparing BM-CNMs and modified BM-CNMs with desired particle size, structure, and surface properties are summarized and discussed. The physicochemical properties of pristine CNMs and BM-CNMs are compared. Because of BM-CNM's unique properties, such as excellent catalytic, electrochemical, and sorptive properties, their potential applications in energy conversion, energy storage, and environmental remediation are also discussed. Key challenges and further research needs are proposed at the end.