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Cellulose regulated lignin/cellulose-based carbon materials with hierarchical porous structure for energy storage

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Abstract

Lignin has gained extensive attention as an ideal carbon precursor due to its abundance and high carbon content. However, the agglomeration of lignin and additional corrosive and unrecyclable reagents in direct pyrolysis still limit the development of lignin-based porous carbons. Herein, a facile and eco-friendly strategy was proposed to fabricate hierarchical porous lignin/cellulose-based carbon materials (LCs). In the process, cellulose nanofibrils acted as the skeleton of the bio-aerogels, which supported lignin and benefit the preparation of the LCs. Moreover, the specific surface area and the graphitization degree of LCs can be regulated by varying the cellulose content. Without activation, the bio-based carbon material (LC30) had a high specific surface area of 1770 m2 g−1, which displayed high specific capacitance of 216.2 F g−1 at the current density of 0.5 A g−1. The supercapacitor based on LC30 also showed outstanding energy density of 12.3 Wh kg−1 at the power density of 50 W kg−1. The sustainable raw material, simple and harmless preparation process, and remarkable electrochemical performance enable LC30, a promising supercapacitor electrode for energy storage.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20211025), the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Youth (Grant No. 32301681), the Foundation of Jiangsu Key Lab of Biomass Energy and Materials (Grant No. JSBEM-S-202317), and the National Postdoctoral Researcher Program of China (Grant No. GZB20230847).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, CAF, Jiangsu Key Lab of Biomass Energy and Material, Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, No.16, 5th Suojin, Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210042, People’s Republic of China

    Yan Lin, Chen Huang, Yongjun Deng, Xiuxiu Zou, Wencan Ma & Guigan Fang

  2. Co-Innovation Center for Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Caoxing Huang

  3. College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agriculture University, Nanchang, 330045, People’s Republic of China

    Xiuxiu Zou

  4. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Arthur J. Ragauskas

  5. Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries, Center for Renewable Carbon, The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Arthur J. Ragauskas

  6. Joint Institute for Biological Science, Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Arthur J. Ragauskas

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  1. Yan Lin
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  2. Chen Huang
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  3. Caoxing Huang
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Contributions

Yan Lin: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing—original draft, and review and editing. Chen Huang: supervision and writing—review and editing. Caoxing Huang: writing—review and editing. Yongjun Deng: writing—review and editing. Xiuxiu Zou: investigation. Wencan Ma: investigation. Guigan Fang: supervision and writing—review and editing. Arthur J. Ragauskas: writing—review and editing.

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Lin, Y., Huang, C., Huang, C. et al. Cellulose regulated lignin/cellulose-based carbon materials with hierarchical porous structure for energy storage. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 7, 51 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-024-00850-5

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