Paper-based laser-induced graphene for sustainable and flexible microsupercapacitor applications

Abstract

Laser-induced graphene (LIG) is as a promising material for flexible microsupercapacitors (MSCs) due to its simple and cost-effective processing. However, LIG-MSC research and production has been centered on non-sustainable polymeric substrates, such as polyimide. In this work, it is presented a cost-effective, reproducible, and robust approach for the preparation of LIG structures via a one-step laser direct writing on chromatography paper. The developed strategy relies on soaking the paper in a 0.1 M sodium tetraborate solution (borax) prior to the laser processing. Borax acts as a fire-retardant agent, thus allowing the laser processing of sensitive substrates that other way would be easily destroyed under the high-energy beam. LIG on paper exhibiting low sheet resistance (30 Ω sq−1) and improved electrode/electrolyte interface was obtained by the proposed method. When used as microsupercapacitor electrodes, this laser-induced graphene resulted in specific capacitances of 4.6 mF cm−2 (0.015 mA cm−2). Furthermore, the devices exhibit excellent cycling stability (> 10,000 cycles at 0.5 mA cm−2) and good mechanical properties. By connecting the devices in series and parallel, it was also possible to control the voltage and energy delivered by the system. Thus, paper-based LIG-MSC can be used as energy storage devices for flexible, low-cost, and portable electronics. Additionally, due to their flexible design and architecture, they can be easily adapted to other circuits and applications with different power requirements. Graphical Abstract

Bioderived Laser-Induced Graphene for Sensors and Supercapacitors

“…An 800 g/m 2 paperboard, with kaolin and CaCO 3 as additives, was instead treated with a solution of sodium borate . Also filter paper could be converted after being treated with an aqueous solution of ammonium sulphamate, urea and other components, phosphate-based, , sodium borate-based FR, or a commercial one, obtaining similar results in terms of sheet resistance (around 30–60 Ω/□). An interesting application has been proposed for this approach: triboelectric nanogenerators were created by combining multistep pretreated paper-derived LIG and PI-derived LIG, showing good performance .…”

“…Among lignocellulosic LIG precursors, leaves had the best areal capacitance ( C a = 34.68 mF cm –2 at 5 mV s –1 ), with H 2 SO 4 /PVA as electrolyte and interdigitated electrodes . With the same electrode architecture, bamboo- and paper-derived LIG performed worse, with C a = 2.8 mF cm –2 and 4.6 mF cm –2 , respectively. Cork-derived LIG was the worst SC of this group, with a slightly lower areal capacitance .…”

“…Even if characterizing the porosity of a precursor provides interesting information for the performance analysis, porosity itself is not enough to define a material: indeed, different materials with the same porosity can result in completely different capacitive properties . Also, other features and important characteristics come into play depending on the specific application (even if in this case they were mainly LCD ,, and LED , ), such as the high flexibility of devices in some cases.…”

Recent research progress of paper-based supercapacitors based on cellulose

“…Among them, paper-based materials have proven to be excellent precursor substrates for LIG, but because untreated cellulose paper burns easily when treated at high temperatures in air, it needs to undergo chemical treatment. Lu et al [128] soaked the paper in 0.1 M flame retardant solution sodium tetraborate for pretreatment. This is to prevent combustion when the laser processes the paper and better produce LIG.…”

Surface Morphological Growth Characteristics of Laser-Induced Graphene with UV Pulsed Laser and Sensor Applications

“…These fragmented multilayered forms are defined as 3D graphene or graphene flakes. LIG can be used as a biochemical sensor (glucose, , urea, thrombin, hydrogen peroxide, pH), a gas sensor (NO x , CO 2 ), a supercapacitor, , a flexible-stretchable antenna , /rectenna, a strain motion sensor, , a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), and deformable or functional circuits on 3D freeform surfaces …”