Tree leaves-derived three-dimensional porous networks as separators for graphene-based supercapacitors. (December 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jin, Ling; Wei, Kang; Xia, Youyi; Liu, Bin; Zhang, Kui; Gao, Hong; Chu, Xiangfeng; Ye, Mingfu; He, Lifang; Lin, Peng
• Is Part Of: Materials today energy. Volume 14(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-12
• Subjects: Tree leaves -- Separator -- Supercapacitor -- Porous -- Graphene; Energy development -- Periodicals; Energy industries -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Periodicals; Energy policy -- Periodicals; Energy development; Energy industries; Energy policy; Power resources; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mtener.2019.100348
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2468-6069

Abstract

Abstract: The development of environment-friendly separators with low cost and high efficiency is necessary for the application of supercapacitors. Herein, as an inexpensive, clean and renewable biomass, tree leave was developed to be used as a new kind of separator for supercapacitor. After being chemically activated with sodium hydroxide for proper time, four kinds of activated tree leaves exhibited abundant nanosized and interconnected pores on surface, which was beneficial for the ion transport and resulted in better performance of supercapacitor. Particularly, the supercapacitor using activated cinnamomum camphora leaf as the separator displayed the highest specific capacitance (251 F g −1 ) at the current density of 0.5 A g −1 . Meanwhile, the specific capacitance retained about 80% even after 1000 consecutive cycles, showing good stability. All the results indicated the activated tree leaves-based separators with facile fabrication, low cost and high performance had promising application in supercapacitors. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Tree leaves are activated by NaOH to create three-dimensional porous network and used as separator. Supercapacitors composed of graphene as electrodes and activated leaves as separator were fabricated. The supercapacitors showed good cyclic stability and high specific capacitance.