Cellulose contains abundant oxygen-containing functional groups and can be used to fabricate hydrogel matrixes for supercapacitors (SCs). However, conventional bacterial cellulose-based SCs need a large amount of carbon materials with high electrical conductivity and mechanical strength to construct a three-dimensional network. Therefore, it is challenging to use cellulose as an electrode material with high electrochemical performance. Herein, Fe 3+ is used to prepare cross-linked polyaniline/cellulose nanofibril hydrogels. The Fe 3+ has two functions: it forms cross-links between cellulose nanofibril and polyaniline (PANI) through carboxylate anions and initiates aniline polymerization. The cross-links between the PANI and cellulose nanofibrils via Fe 3+ form a porous and mechanically robust three-dimensional conductive hydrogel. The as-prepared PANI/cellulose nanofibril hydrogel as an SC electrode has a high areal capacitance of 3060 mF cm −2 and an energy density of 106 μW h cm −2 at 0.5 mA cm −2 . Moreover, the convened flexible solid-state supercapacitor delivers a satisfactory areal capacitance of 185 mF cm −2 at 0.2 mA cm −2 and excellent flexibility. This green method extends the application of cellulose to SCs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.