The preparation of liquefied bio-stalk carbon nanofibers and their application in supercapacitors

• Main Authors: Jiang, Xia, Liu, Chao, Shi, Gaofeng, Wang, Guoying, Wang, Zhao, Jia, Shiming, Dong, Yucan, Mishra, Puranjan, Tian, Haoqi, Liu, Yanrong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Royal Society of Chemistry 2019
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/25600/1/The%20preparation%20of%20liquefied%20bio-stalk%20carbon.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/25600/; https://doi.org/10.1039/C9RA03361K; https://doi.org/10.1039/C9RA03361K

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) have been widely used in electrochemical energy storage devices because of their excellent conductivity, extremely large surface area and structural stability. Herein, we obtained a viscous, liquefied bio-stalk carbon via the simple chemical treatment of biomass, and mixed it with polyacrylonitrile to prepare a spinning solution. Subsequent electrospinning and high temperature activation resulted in the successful preparation of liquefied lignin-based activated carbon nanofibers. The as-prepared liquefied bio-stalk carbon nanofibers exhibited an outstanding electrochemical performance (specific capacitance of 273 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 current density), and a capacitance retention of 210 F g−1 even under a large current density of 10 A g−1. Besides its high specific capacitance and outstanding rate capability, the symmetrical supercapacitor cell based on the liquefied carbon-based nanofiber electrodes also exhibited an excellent cycling performance with 92.76% capacitance retention after 5000 charge–discharge cycles. This study provides a new strategy for the future development of supercapacitor electrode materials and enhances the development of biomass energy.