Quinones from Biopolymers and Small Molecules Milled into Graphite Electrodes

Abstract

The redox reactions of quinones can be used in electrical energy storage systems. Biopolymers are one of the important sources for quinones due to sustainability and low cost. In this work, biomass materials that contain a large fraction of potential quinone groups are used to directly fabricate biomass/graphite hybrid material electrodes, without extraction or separation of the redox active components from other elements. Among these biomass electrodes based on barks, the bark from holm oak (Quercus ilex) and graphite hybrid electrode exhibits a discharge capacity of 20 mAh g−1, with 68% capacity retention after 1000 cycles. Moreover, various quinone chemicals from the biological world are used to generate the quinone/graphite hybrid material electrodes that display higher quinone loadings at the carbon electrodes. The alizarin/graphite hybrid material electrode presents a capacity of 70 mAh g−1, which is ≈30 times higher than that of the graphite electrode. It is demonstrated that barks and quinones are capable of exfoliating graphite into few‐layer graphene sheets with reduced crystallite size. Processing into electrodes is facilitated by the use of another biopolymer, proteins in the form of misfolded protein fibrils, which also help to improve the available charge in electrodes formed from biomass or quinones.

Bio Based Batteries

“…The cyclic voltammetry signatures of electrodes prepared from lignosulfonate/graphite and from bark/ graphite are compared in Figure 3. [44,13] We note the small shift of redox potential of the quinone in these two different settings. The redox potentials of quinones are strongly affected by the molecular environment, as utilized in bioelectrochemical processes; this could be the reason for the different redox potentials.…”

“…[12] Other parts of plants deliver natural dyes that have been used for millennia in staining textiles, which are built from biopolymers. We have employed barks for energy storage, [13] but processing and isolation of the redox active components are probably required for higher performance.…”

Black Charcoal for Green and Scalable Wooden Electrodes for Supercapabatteries

“…CV at 0.05 V s À1 and galvanostatic discharge plots at various charge rates of charcoal NC/graphite: a,e) 1/1 wt%, b,f ) 2/1 wt%, c,g) 3/1 wt%, and d,h) 4/1 wt% in 0.1 M HClO 4 . Lignosulfonate/graphite [4] 35 280 80% retention after 1000 cycles at 4 A g À1 Humic acid/graphite [5] 20 50 84% retention after 1000 cycles at 1 A g À1 Quercus ilex bark/graphite [7] 20 30 68% retention after 1000 cycles at 4 A g À1 Charcoal C 90 0.2 88% retention after 1000 cycles at 4 A g À1 Lignin-derived carbon [25] ---574 0.18…”

“…We have previously demonstrated how waste products from the production of paper and pulp can be inserted in electrodes for charge storage, relying on the quinone groups formed from lignin in wood. [ 2 ] The electroactive materials are formed from black liquor, in combination with electronic polymers [ 1–3 ] or graphite [ 4–7 ] and other carbons. [ 3,8 ] Reviews on the topic of organic electrode materials are widely available, [ 9 ] on biomolecular‐based electrodes less so, [ 3,10 ] and on biopolymer‐based materials extracted from waste flows even less so.…”