Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Field Monitoring of Microplastics in Urban Runoff: Treatment Efficiency of Biofilters.

Environmental science & technology·2026

Same author

Sulfide stress tolerance as a controller of methane production in temperate wetlands.

The ISME journal·2025

Same author

A New Climate Impact of Wildfire Chars: Suppression of Biogenic Methane Production Over Repeated Redox Cycles.

Environmental science & technology·2025

Same author

Predicting Abiotic Reduction Rate Constants of Munition Compounds in Soils.

Environmental science & technology·2025

Same author

Combined sorption-biodegradation for removal of energetic compounds from stormwater runoff.

Journal of hazardous materials·2024

Same author

Comparative Evaluation of Mediated Electrochemical Reduction and Chemical Redox Titration for Quantifying the Electron Accepting Capacities of Soils and Redox-Active Soil Constituents.

Environmental science & technology·2024

Same journal

Reactivity and environmental fate of emerging contaminants in wastewater treatment systems: A reactive continuum framework approach.

Chemosphere·2026

Same journal

Vinasse fertigation modifies soil-microbiota-plant interactions and metabolism in sugarcane.

Chemosphere·2026

Same journal

Corrigendum to 'Exposure to the Polychlorinated biphenyl mixture Aroclor 1254 elicits neurological and cardiac developmental effects in early life stage zebrafish (Danio rerio)' [Chemosphere 371 (2025), 144023].

Chemosphere·2026

Same journal

Microplastic footprints in freshwater ecosystems: Raman spectroscopy of microplastics as indicator of anthropopressure in Northeastern Poland's lakes.

Chemosphere·2026

Same journal

Estimation of VOC emissions from an electric vehicle interior as a function of cabin air temperature using a selected ion tube flow mass spectrometer (SIFT-MS) measurement.

Chemosphere·2026

Same journal

A direct SPE clean-up after protein precipitation methodology to remove endogenous steroid sulfate MRM interferences for PFAS analysis of serum samples by isotope dilution LC-MS/MS.

Chemosphere·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 29, 2025

Author Spotlight: On-Site Biochar Production for Woody Debris Incineration in Forestry

Author Spotlight: On-Site Biochar Production for Woody Debris Incineration in Forestry

Published on: January 5, 2024

Visualizing electron storage capacity distribution in biochar through silver tagging.

Danhui Xin¹, Thomas Barkley², Pei C Chiu¹

¹Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.

|February 3, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Electron storage capacity (ESC) in black carbon, like biochar, is crucial for redox reactions. This study located ESC within biochar pores using silver nanoparticles, revealing its distribution and accessibility.

Keywords:

Biochar Black carbon Electron storage capacity Silver nanoparticles Spatial distribution Visualization

More Related Videos

Physical, Chemical and Biological Characterization of Six Biochars Produced for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites

Physical, Chemical and Biological Characterization of Six Biochars Produced for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites

Published on: November 28, 2014

Assessment of Waste-Derived Biochars on the Health and Biological Activity of Soil

Assessment of Waste-Derived Biochars on the Health and Biological Activity of Soil

Published on: October 10, 2025

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Dec 29, 2025

Author Spotlight: On-Site Biochar Production for Woody Debris Incineration in Forestry

Author Spotlight: On-Site Biochar Production for Woody Debris Incineration in Forestry

Published on: January 5, 2024

Physical, Chemical and Biological Characterization of Six Biochars Produced for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites

Physical, Chemical and Biological Characterization of Six Biochars Produced for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites

Published on: November 28, 2014

Assessment of Waste-Derived Biochars on the Health and Biological Activity of Soil

Assessment of Waste-Derived Biochars on the Health and Biological Activity of Soil

Published on: October 10, 2025

Area of Science:

Environmental Science
Materials Science
Electrochemistry

Background:

Electron storage capacity (ESC) in black carbon is key for redox processes but its spatial distribution remains unclear.
Understanding ESC location is vital for controlling bioaccessibility and reaction rates in biochar.
Previous studies estimated ESC in black carbon to be a few mmol/g.

Purpose of the Study:

To spatially map the electron storage capacity (ESC) within a wood-derived biochar.
To investigate the influence of ESC distribution on bioaccessibility and reaction kinetics.
To develop a novel method for visualizing and quantifying ESC in carbon materials.

Main Methods:

Utilized silver ions (Ag+) to tag the ESC of reduced biochar.
Allowed Ag+ to diffuse into biochar pores under controlled pH conditions.
Employed electron microscopy to visualize silver nanoparticles (nAg) as markers for ESC.

Main Results:

Successfully tagged up to 2.49 mmol Ag+/g biochar (62% of total ESC) as nAg.
Observed abundant and dense nAg on the biochar surface.
Found well-dispersed nAg within the biochar interior, indicating pore diffusion limitations.

Conclusions:

The spatial distribution of ESC within biochar interior explains limited accessibility and reaction rates.
The silver-tagging method provides a new approach to probe ESC in black carbon.
This technique can be used to incorporate redox-active elements into carbon media for environmental applications.