Cellulose intercalation activation of natural ramie fiber derived carbon electrode for flexible supercapacitors

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2024-12, Vol.501, p.157702, Article 157702
• Main Authors: Guo, Zixuan, Tian, Zhiwei, Duan, Gaigai, Fu, Qiliang, Zhang, Chunmei, Han, Xiaoshuai, Yang, Haoqi, He, Shuijian, Jiang, Shaohua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon; Flexible supercapacitor device; Intercalation activate; Natural ramie fiber; Swelling
• ISSN: 1385-8947
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2024.157702

•Deep modification is achieved by intercalation activation of cellulose.•The self-supporting and flexible structure of ramie can be maintained.•The assembled FSSC device delivers areal energy density of 23.6 μWh cm−2. The complex structure of cellulose leads to its low accessibility to reagents, which hinders the further development of cellulose-based natural fibers in supercapacitors. The key issue is how to achieve deep internal activation while maintaining the flexible self-supporting skeleton structure of cellulose. In this work, an intercalation activation method was proposed. The activator infiltrated into the cellulose microcrystalline structure under rapid swelling to construct a new hydrogen bond network. RC/N2 has a large specific surface area (1897 m2 g−1) and exhibits excellent electrochemical performance due to the uniform activation of NaOH pre-inserted between cellulose layers while ensuring the flexibility of cellulose. At a current density of 0.1 A g−1, it reaches 352 F g−1, and the assembled symmetric supercapacitor has a capacitance retention rate of 98 % after 70,000 cycles. In addition, the symmetric flexible supercapacitor assembled based on RC/N2 has good stability after multi-angle bending, which opens up further possibilities for the development of flexible energy storage devices.