Mechanically stiff and high-areal-performance integrated all-in-wood supercapacitors with electroactive biomass-based hydrogel

• Published in: Cellulose (London) Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 389 - 404
• Main Authors: Zhang, Zhicheng, Yu, Chuying, Peng, Zhiyuan, Zhong, Wenbin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bioorganic Chemistry; Capacitance; Ceramics; Channels; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Clean energy; Composites; Compressive strength; Contact resistance; Electrochemical analysis; Electrons; Flux density; Glass; Hydrogels; Lignosulfonates; Multilayers; Natural Materials; Organic Chemistry; Original Research; Physical Chemistry; Polymer Sciences; Polypyrroles; Stiffness; Strong interactions (field theory); Structural hierarchy; Supercapacitors; Sustainable Development; Wood construction; Natural wood; High-areal-performance; Structural/stiff supercapacitor; Integrated; Conductive composite hydrogel
• ISSN: 0969-0239; 1572-882X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10570-020-03509-8

The integrated supercapacitors can remarkably reduce the interface contact resistance and avoid the delamination of multi-layer structure, while the mechanically stiff supercapacitors show a wide application prospect in the energy devices. Wood has unique hierarchical porous structure and high mechanical strength with the advantages of abundance and renewability. Here, a novel integrated and mechanically stiff all-in-wood supercapacitor is constructed with lignosulfonate/polypyrrole (Lig/PPy) hydrogel embedded in wood by in-situ polymerization of pyrrole in both sides of wood piece in the Lig/Py solution. Benefiting from strong interaction between Lig and wood, and high pseudo-capacitance of Lig, as well as the hierarchical porous structure of wood with vertical channels, as-prepared integrated Lig/PPy-Wood based supercapacitor (LPWS 74−4h ) displays a high areal capacitance of 1062 mF cm −2 , high energy density of 47.2 µWh cm −2 and favorable cyclic performance. Meanwhile, the LPWS 74−4h also shows impressive mechanical stiffness with a maximum compressive strength of 71 MPa. Particularly, LPWS 74−4h can maintain good electrochemical performance even if it is crushed into cake shape under high pressure (over 71 MPa). It is expected that such integrated and mechanically stiff all-in-wood supercapacitors with superior electrochemical performance to be a promising candidate for the next generation green and structural energy devices. Graphic abstract The integrated all-in-wood supercapacitors perfectly combine the conductive porous structure of Lig/PPy hydrogel with superior electrochemical performance and the unique hierarchical porous structure of wood with vertical channels. Impressive mechanical stiffness and superior electrochemical performance have been achieved.