"Liquid-To-Solid" Conversion of Biomass Wastes Enhanced by Uniform Nitrogen Doping for the Preparation of High-Value-Added Carbon Materials for Energy Storage with Superior Characteristics

Recent Trends in Supercapacitor Research: Sustainability in Energy and Materials

Supercapacitors (SCs) have emerged as critical components in applications ranging from transport to wearable electronics due to their rapid charge-discharge cycles, high power density, and reliability. This review offers an analysis of recent strides in supercapacitor research, emphasizing pivotal developments in sustainability, electrode materials, electrolytes, and 'smart SCs' designed for modern microelectronics with attributes such as flexibility, stretchability, and biocompatibility. Central to this discourse are two dominant electrode materials: carbon materials (CMs), primarily in electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs), and pseudocapacitive materials, involving oxides/hydroxides, chalcogenides, metal-organic frameworks, conductive polymers and metal nitrides such as MXene. Despite EDLCs' historical use, challenges such as low energy density persist, with heteroatom introduction into the carbon lattice seen as a solution. Concurrently, pseudocapacitive materials dominate recent studies, with efficiency enhancement strategies, such as the creation of hybrids based on different types of materials, surface structural engineering and doping, under exploration. Electrolyte innovation, especially the shift towards gel polymer electrolytes for flexible SCs, and the harmonization of electrode materials with SC designs are highlighted. Emphasis is given to smart SCs with novel attributes such as self-charging, self-healing, biocompatibility, and environmentally conscious designs. In summary, the article underscores the drive in sustainable supercapacitor research to achieve high energy and power density, steering towards SCs that are efficient and versatile and involving bioderived/biocompatible SC materials. This brief review is based on selected recent references, offering depth combined with an accessible overview of the SC landscape.

Fomes fomentarius as a Bio-Template for Heteroatom-Doped Carbon Fibers for Symmetrical Supercapacitors

Nowadays, commercial electric double-layer supercapacitors mainly use porous activated carbons due to their high specific surface area, electrical conductivity, and chemical stability. A feature of carbon materials is the possibility of obtaining them from renewable plant biomass. In this study, fungi (Fomes fomentarius) were used as a bio-template for the preparation of carbon fibers via a combination of thermochemical conversion approaches, including a general hydrothermal pre-carbonization step, as well as subsequent carbonization, physical, or chemical activation. The relationships between the preparation conditions and the structural and electrochemical properties of the obtained carbon materials were determined using SEM, TEM, EDAX, XPS, cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic measurements, and EIS. It was shown that hydrothermal pretreatment in the presence of phosphoric acid ensured the complete removal of inorganic impurities of raw fungus hyphae, but at the same time, saved some heteroatoms, such as O, N, and P. Chemical activation using H3PO4 increased the amount of phosphorus in the carbon material and saved the natural fungus’s structure. The combination of a hierarchical pore structure with O, N, and P heteroatom doping made it possible to achieve good electrochemical properties (specific capacitance values of 220 F/g) and excellent stability after 25,000 charge/discharge cycles in a three-electrode cell. The electrochemical performance in both three- and two-electrode cells exceeded or was comparable to other biomass-derived porous carbons, making it a prospective candidate as an electrode material in symmetrical supercapacitors.