Efficient conversion of lignin waste and self-assembly synthesis of C@MnCo2O4 for asymmetric supercapacitors with high energy density

Abstract

Lignin waste from the papermaking and biorefineries industry is a significantly promising renewable resource to prepare advanced carbon materials for diverse applications, such as the electrodes of supercapacitors; however, the improvement of their energy density remains a challenge. Here, we design a green and universal approach to prepare the composite electrode material, which is composed of lignin-phenol-formaldehyde resins derived hierarchical porous carbon (LR-HPC) as conductive skeletons and the self-assembly manganese cobaltite (MnCo2O4) nanocrystals as active sites. The synthesized C@MnCo2O4 composite has an abundant porous structure and superior electronic conductivity, allowing for more charge/electron mass transfer channels and active sites for the redox reactions. The composite shows excellent electrochemical performance, such as the maximum specific capacitance of ∼726 mF cm−2 at 0.5 mV s−1, due to the significantly enhanced interactive interface between LR-HPC and MnCo2O4 crystals. The assembled all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor, with the LR-HPC and C@MnCo2O4 as cathode and anode, respectively, exhibits the highest volumetric energy density of 0.68 mWh cm−3 at a power density of 8.2 mW cm−3. Moreover, this device shows a high capacity retention ratio of ∼87.6% at 5 mA cm−2 after 5000 cycles.