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Pyrolysis of 1 g of waste chicken feathers (quills and barbs) in supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO2) system at 600 °C for 3 h leads to the formation of 0.25 g well-shaped carbon microspheres with diameters of 1-5 μm and 0.26 g ammonium bicarbonate ((NH4)HCO3). The products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Raman spectroscopic, FT-IR spectrum, X-ray electron spectroscopy (XPS), and N2 adsorption/desorption measurements. The obtained carbon microspheres displayed great superhydrophobicity as fabric coatings materials, with the water contact angle of up to 165.2±2.5°. The strategy is simple, efficient, does not require any toxic chemicals or catalysts, and generates two valuable materials at the same time. Moreover, other nitrogen-containing materials (such as nylon and amino acids) can also be converted to carbon microspheres and (NH4)HCO3 in the sc-CO2 system. This provides a simple strategy to extract the nitrogen content from natural and man-made waste materials and generate (NH4)HCO3 as fertilizer.

Onionlike carbon microspheres composed of many nanoflakes have been prepared by pyrolyzing waste polyethylene terephthalate in supercritical carbon dioxide at 650 °C for 3 h followed by subsequent vacuum annealing at 1500 °C for 0.5 h. The obtained onionlike carbon microspheres have very high surface roughness and exhibit unique hydrophobic properties. Considering their structural similarities with a lotus leaf, we further developed a low-cost, acid/alkaline-resistant, and fluorine-free superhydrophobic coating strategy on fabrics by employing the onionlike carbon microspheres and polydimethylsiloxane as raw materials. This provides a novel technique to convert waste polyethylene terephthalate to valuable carbon materials. At the same time, we demonstrate a novel application direction of carbon materials by taking advantage of their unique structural properties. The combination of recycling waste solid materials as carbon feedstock for valuable carbon material production, with the generation of highly value-added products such as superhydrophobic fabrics, may provide a feasible solution for sustainable solid waste treatment.