Sustainable carbon nanofibers/nanotubes composites from cellulose as electrodes for supercapacitors
By Volodymyr Kuzmenko and Olga Naboka and Mazharul Haque and Henrik Staaf and Gert G
Published in Energy
2015
Abstract
Supercapacitors are efficient energy storage devices with long lifetime and safe service. Their effectiveness, to a big extent, is dependent on electrode materials used for accumulation of energy in form of electrostatic charges. Over the last decades, variety of carbonaceous electrode materials has been used in supercapacitors. Mostly the production of such electrodes is still oriented on unsustainable fossil fuels as precursors instead of sustainable renewable resources. In this study, freestanding carbonaceous electrode materials for supercapacitors were derived from cellulose, the most abundant renewable resource. They were synthesized via carbonization of fibrillar cellulose impregnated with \CNTs\ (carbon nanotubes). The ensuing composite materials consisted of a \CNF\ (carbon nanofiber) scaffold (fiber diameter in the range of 50