A new hybrid architecture consisting of highly mesoporous CNT/carbon nanofibers from starch

Abstract

Currently used activated carbon electrodes from commercial products contain mostly micropores (<2 nm), which are not easily accessible to electrolyte ions. Therefore, mesoporous carbons, with their more accessible porous infrastructure, are promising materials to maximize the capacitance in electrochemical capacitors. This paper reports a new hybrid carbon nanofiber architecture having mesopores with a narrow distribution, highly accessible surface area, low resistivity, and high stability by electrospinning of starch without using the template method for the first time. By using the natural ability of the starch lamellar structure and controlling the carbonization temperature, we successfully fabricated a new hybrid carbon architecture consisting of CNT reinforced-carbon nanofibers with a pore diameter of 4.76 nm and pore volume of 0.31 cm 3 g À1 . It shows a higher specific capacitance (170 F g À1 ) and electrical conductivity (2.1 S cm À1 ) than other carbon materials derived from synthetic polymers and free-standing CNT papers.

Enhanced Capacitive Deionization by Dispersion of CNTs in Activated Carbon Electrode

“…The CNTs were agglomerated, and they clogged the micropores, which reduced the specific surface. When the CNTs were homogeneously dispersed, the electrodes showed an increased specific surface area due to the added “surface” by the CNTs …”

Pore-Structure-Optimized CNT-Carbon Nanofibers from Starch for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

“…In our previous study [ 14 ], we showed that starch has advantages for fabricating a mesoporous carbon structure without using the template method. By electrospinning the starch solution, thin and flexible starch nanofiber webs were effectively fabricated.…”

“…Previously, we reported a new hybrid carbon architecture consisting of CNT-reinforced carbon nanofibers with highly mesoporous structure made by electrospinning starch [ 14 ]. Mesoporous CNT-carbon nanofibers exhibit a high specific capacitance (170 F·g −1 ) and electrical conductivity (2.1 S·cm −1 ) as electrodes for supercapacitors, due to high specific surface area and sufficient pore distributions at an effective mesoporous size range of 3–5 nm.…”

Crosslinked carbon nanofiber films with hierarchical pores as flexible electrodes for high performance supercapacitors

“…To serve the needs of real applications, the capacitance of flexible SCs should meet current challenges that require high surface areas for large quantities of ion adsorption/desorption [8]. Various electrode materials with simultaneous high surface area and excellent flexibility have been used in flexible SCs, including graphene, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), conductive polymers, and so on [3,[9][10][11][12][13].…”