Search

Carbon nanofibers derived from lignocellulosic materials have become the most prevalent free-standing electrode material for supercapacitors due to their renewable and sustainable nature. This study used Arenga pinnata bunches (APB) as raw material for hemicellulose compounds to produce carbon electrodes through carbonization processes at 650 °C, 700 °C, 750 °C, and 800 °C, in the presence of flowing N2 gas. The variations in carbonization temperature resulted in carbon electrodes with surface morphology having a nanofiber structure with micro-meso pore distribution. According to the results, the carbonization temperature of 700 °C (APB-700) is the optimum temperature for producing electrode surface morphology with a combination of nanofiber, micro-and mesopore distributions, as well as specific surface area, specific capacitance, energy density, and power density of 1231.896 m2 g−1, 201.6 F g−1, 28.0 Wh kg−1, and 109.5 W kg−1, respectively, for the two electrode systems. This shows the combination of nanofibers and the distribution of micro-and mesopores produced with variations in carbonization temperature has the capacity to improve the performance of supercapacitor cells. Therefore, carbon nanofibers derived from Arenga pinnata bunches have the potential to be used as free-standing electrode materials for supercapacitors without employing doping, binder, electrospinning, and heteroatom template methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Advanced electrodes derived from carbon fiber-reinforced CF-CNF/MWCNT-HAs. • The HAs possess 3-D porous structure and strengthened mechanical property. • Used as a powerful platform for constructing high-performance flexible electrodes. • The flexible ASC device with significant energy density of 8.93 mWh/cm3. Developing electrodes with excellent electrochemical and mechanical properties is the key to achieve state-of-the-art flexible asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs). This work proposes a facile and scalable strategy to prepare high-performance flexible electrodes based on carbon fiber-reinforced cellulose nanofiber/multiwalled carbon nanotube-hybrid aerogels (CF-CNF/MWCNT-HAs). The three-dimensional (3-D) porous structure, excellent conductivity, binder-free nature, and high strength of the CF-CNF/MWCNT-HAs enable it to serve as a powerful platform for constructing flexible electrodes with outstanding capacitive performance. The as-prepared CF-CNF/MWCNT/MnO 2 positive electrode and CF-CNF/MWCNT/active carbon (AC) negative electrode display remarkably high areal-specific capacitances (1745 and 1273 mF/cm2 at a current density of 1 mA/cm2, respectively). In addition, the carbon fiber-reinforced electrode also presented an excellent mechanical property with a maximum stress up to 27.9 MPa. The as-fabricated CF-CNF/MWCNT/MnO 2 //CF-CNF/MWCNT/AC flexible ASC device exhibits significant capacitance and energy density of 19.4 F/cm3 and 8.93 mWh/cm3, respectively. Additionally, this flexible ASC device can retain more than 96.7% of its capacitance after 3000 charge-discharge cycles. These results will enable us to fabricate flexible solid-state ASC devices from CF-CNF/MWCNT-HAs, and to expand its applications in the fields of portable and wearable electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]