TY - JOUR
T1 - Synthesis of Sustainable Lignin Precursors for Hierarchical Porous Carbons and Their Efficient Performance in Energy Storage Applications
AU - Muddasar, Muhammad
AU - Mushtaq, Misbah
AU - Beaucamp, Anne
AU - Kennedy, Tadhg
AU - Culebras, Mario
AU - Collins, Maurice N.
AU - Beaucamp McLoughlin, Anne
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.
PY - 2024/2/12
Y1 - 2024/2/12
N2 - Lignin-derived porous carbons have great potential for energy storage applications. However, their traditional synthesis requires highly corrosive activating agents in order to produce porous structures. In this work, an environmentally friendly and unique method has been developed for preparing lignin-based 3D spherical porous carbons (LSPCs). Dropwise injection of a lignin solution containing PVA sacrificial templates into liquid nitrogen produces tiny spheres that are lyophilized and carbonized to produce LSPCs. Most of the synthesized samples possess excellent specific surface areas (426.6-790.5 m2/g) along with hierarchical micro- and mesoporous morphologies. When tested in supercapacitor applications, LSPC-28 demonstrates a superior specific capacitance of 102.3 F/g at 0.5 A/g, excellent rate capability with 70.3% capacitance retention at 20 A/g, and a commendable energy density of 2.1 Wh/kg at 250 W/kg. These materials (LSPC-46) also show promising performance as an anode material in sodium-ion batteries with high reversible capacity (110 mAh g-1 at 100 mA g-1), high Coulombic efficiency, and excellent cycling stability. This novel and green technique is anticipated to facilitate the scalability of lignin-based porous carbons and open a range of research opportunities for energy storage applications.
AB - Lignin-derived porous carbons have great potential for energy storage applications. However, their traditional synthesis requires highly corrosive activating agents in order to produce porous structures. In this work, an environmentally friendly and unique method has been developed for preparing lignin-based 3D spherical porous carbons (LSPCs). Dropwise injection of a lignin solution containing PVA sacrificial templates into liquid nitrogen produces tiny spheres that are lyophilized and carbonized to produce LSPCs. Most of the synthesized samples possess excellent specific surface areas (426.6-790.5 m2/g) along with hierarchical micro- and mesoporous morphologies. When tested in supercapacitor applications, LSPC-28 demonstrates a superior specific capacitance of 102.3 F/g at 0.5 A/g, excellent rate capability with 70.3% capacitance retention at 20 A/g, and a commendable energy density of 2.1 Wh/kg at 250 W/kg. These materials (LSPC-46) also show promising performance as an anode material in sodium-ion batteries with high reversible capacity (110 mAh g-1 at 100 mA g-1), high Coulombic efficiency, and excellent cycling stability. This novel and green technique is anticipated to facilitate the scalability of lignin-based porous carbons and open a range of research opportunities for energy storage applications.
KW - batteries
KW - energy storage
KW - green synthesis
KW - lignin
KW - sodium-ion batteries
KW - spherical porous carbon
KW - supercapacitors
KW - tunable porous carbon
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85184767263&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c07202
DO - 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c07202
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85184767263
SN - 2168-0485
VL - 12
SP - 2352
EP - 2363
JO - ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
JF - ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
IS - 6
ER -