Abstract: In order to solve the environmental pollution caused by the stacking of furfural residue and expand the high-value utilization of waste resources, the furfural residue based lignin/cellulose composite was prepared through the pretreatment processes such as ultra-fine grinding and high-pressure homogenization. The sample morphology was characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), the composition and elemental content of the composite were analyzed by using normal form washing method and elemental analysis, the surface functional groups of the composite were analyzed by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV), and the thermokinetic analysis was performed by using multiple heating rate thermogravimetry (TG) under non-isothermal conditions. The results show that the mass fraction of C in furfural residue based lignin/cellulose composite is high (55.95%), which can be used as an ideal carbon source. The material contains abundant lignin (53.18%) and cellulose (39.48%), and has high utilization value. The overall apparent activation energy is low (30 kJ/mol), and the half-wave potential (E_1/2=0.83 V) in 0.1 mol/L KOH alkaline electrolyte reaches 96.5% of commercial Pt/C (E_1/2=0.86 V). Therefore, carbon materials prepared by using furfural residue based lignin/cellulose composites as biomass precursors can be used as ideal oxygen reduction catalysts for fuel cells.

Key words: furfural residue, biomass, lignin/cellulose, kinetic analysis, oxygen reducing activity