A Solvent‐Free Synthesis of Lignin‐Derived Renewable Carbon with Tunable Porosity for Supercapacitor Electrodes. Issue 17 (30th July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ho, Hoi Chun; Nguyen, Ngoc A.; Meek, Kelly M.; Alonso, David Martin; Hakim, Sikander H.; Naskar, Amit K.
• Is Part Of: ChemSusChem. Volume 11:Issue 17(2018)
• Page Start: 2953
• Page End: 2959
• Publication Date: 2018-07-30
• Subjects: carbon -- lignin crosslinking -- morphology tuning -- renewable resources -- supercapacitor; Green chemistry -- Periodicals; Sustainable engineering -- Periodicals; Chemistry -- Periodicals; Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; 660
• DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201800929
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1864-5631

Abstract

Abstract: Synthesis of multiphase materials from lignin, a biorefinery coproduct, offers limited success owing to the inherent difficulty in controlling dispersion of these renewable hyperbranched macromolecules in the product or its intermediates. Effective use of the chemically reactive functionalities in lignin, however, enables tuning morphologies of the materials. Here, we bind lignin oligomers with a rubbery macromolecule followed by thermal crosslinking to form a carbon precursor with phase contrasted morphology at submicron scale. The solvent‐free mixing is conducted in a high‐shear melt mixer. With this, the carbon precursor is further modified with potassium hydroxide for a single‐step carbonization to yield activated carbon with tunable pore structure. A typical precursor with 90 % lignin yields porous carbon with 2120 m 2 g −1 surface area and supercapacitor with 215 F g −1 capacitance. The results show a simple route towards manufacturing carbon‐based energy‐storage materials, eliminating the need for conventional template synthesis. Abstract : Lignin to supercapacitor : A new carbon electrode design principle was proposed by simple heat‐treating and/or melt‐mixing with rubber prior to lignin carbonization. With this method, lignin's degree of crosslinking can be tuned, and the derived carbon morphology can be tailored. The porosity and capacitance of the carbon and electrode produced were increased by 20 %. The appealing capacitive behavior verified this design for practical energy storage applications.