Cellulose‐Derived Supercapacitors from the Carbonisation of Filter Paper

Abstract

Advanced carbon materials are important for the next-generation of energy storage apparatus, such as electrochemical capacitors. Here, the physical and electrochemical properties of carbonised filter paper (FP) were investigated. FP is comprised of pure cellulose and is a standardised material. After carbonisation at temperatures ranging from 600 to 1700 °C, FP was contaminant-free, containing only carbon and some oxygenated species, and its primary fibre structure was retained (diameter ≈20–40 μm). The observed enhancement in conductivity of the carbonised FP was correlated with the carbonisation temperature. Electrochemical capacitance in the range of ≈1.8–117 F g−1 was achieved, with FP carbonised at 1500 °C showing the best performance. This high capacitance was stable with >87 % retained after 3000 charge–discharge cycles. These results show that carbonised FP, without the addition of composite materials, exhibits good supercapacitance performance, which competes well with existing electrodes made of carbon-based materials. Furthermore, given the lower cost and renewable source, cellulose-based materials are the more eco-friendly option for energy storage applications.

Carbonized cellulose beads for efficient capacitive energy storage

“…As seen in Fig. 6d, the specific capacitance of CS-DAC-C (derived from the GCD curves) was up to 242 F g -1 at a current density of 1 A g -1 , which was much higher than those obtained for DAC-C (181 F g -1 ) and LC-DAC-C (180 F g -1 ), and comparable to results previously reported for cellulose-based carbon electrodes (Chen et al 2014a;Jiang et al 2015Jiang et al , 2016Li et al 2016c). The higher capacitance of CS-DAC-C compared to LC-DAC-C was probably the result of the higher SSA of the former (Li et al 2016a, b;Wang et al 2017).…”

Highly Porous Reduced Graphene Oxide-Coated Carbonized Cotton Fibers as Supercapacitor Electrodes

“… 44 For long cycling conditions, RGO/CCF 15A reports a capacity retention of 97.7% at 60 mA g –1 for 1000 cycles, a value that represents an electrochemical stability similar to that of carbon-based systems reported in the literature ( Figure 7 d). 11 , 16 , 25 …”

“…10 Recently, the use of biomass as raw material has allowed the design of carbon-based storage systems with outstanding electrochemical and mechanical properties. 11 , 12 For instance, hierarchical porous carbon electrodes from melamine-treated cotton fibers (CFs) exhibiting a specific surface area ( S BET ) of 777 m2 g –1 and a specific capacitance ( C s ) of 360 F g –1 , 13 , 14 as well as KOH-treated natural fiber electrodes with 1435 m 2 g –1 and 218 F g –1 at 0.1 A g –1 , have been reported. 15 …”

Influence of Pamoic Acid as a Complexing Agent in the Thermal Preparation of NiO Nanoparticles: Application to Electrochemical Water Oxidation

“…Therefore, it could be logical using alternative electrode materials which can reduce the severe aggregation of nanomaterials during immobilization them by drop‐drying method.Use of interconnected micro‐nanostructured carbon is advantageous in that electrocatalysts are readily captured by the micro‐nanostructured pores or adsorbed onto the side walls of the pores. Recently, scientist have pyrolyzed normal filter paper, a cheap source of carbon, to obtain highly conductive, low‐cost, interconnected, micro‐nanostructured carbon electrodes for a variety of electrochemical applications . The use of a filter paper derived carbon electrode (FPCE) as a base electrode is, therefore, quite reasonable.…”