Bio-Phenolic Resin Derived Porous Carbon Materials for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Capacitor.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Sustainable Energy

Background:

• Developing high-performance energy storage materials is crucial for renewable energy technologies.
• Biomass-derived carbons offer a sustainable alternative to traditional carbon sources.
• Hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) structures can enhance ion transport and energy storage capacity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) from rubberwood sawdust for energy storage applications.
• To evaluate the electrochemical performance of HPC in supercapacitors and hybrid lithium-ion capacitors (LICs).

Main Methods:

• Hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) prepared via pyrolysis of rubberwood sawdust using CaCO3 as a hard template.
• Bio-oil from rubberwood sawdust used as a carbon source, followed by polymerization to resole phenolic resin.
• Electrochemical testing of HPC in symmetrical supercapacitors and hybrid LICs with Li4Ti5O12 (LTO).

Main Results:

• HPC exhibited a high surface area (1604.9 m²/g) and a 3D interconnected morphology.
• Supercapacitors achieved a specific capacitance of 113.3 F/g at 0.5 A/g with 5000 cycles stability.
• Hybrid LICs demonstrated a maximum energy density of 113.3 Wh/kg and 92.8% capacity retention after 3000 cycles.

Conclusions:

• Biomass-derived HPC is a promising electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors.
• The fabricated hybrid LICs show excellent energy density and cycling stability for potential energy storage applications.