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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycrystalline Co9S8nanotubes were successfully fabricated by using Co(CO3)0.35Cl0.20(OH)1.10nanorod bunches as sacrificial hard templates through a hydrothermal route. The samples were characterized by means of XRD, XPS, SEM and TEM. The Co9S8nanotubes were formed due to the nanoscale Kirkendall effect, which can be explained by the difference in diffusion rates between the cobalt source and the sulfur ion. Magnetic measurements indicate that the Co9S8nanotubes show a paramagnetic property instead of a ferromagnetic property, which can be attributed to the tiny sizes of the component nanoparticles. The electrochemical properties of the Co9S8nanotubes demonstrate that they deliver a large discharge capacity, which might find possible applications as an electrode material in lithium batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]