Nano MnO2 Radially Grown on Lignin-Based Carbon Fiber by One-Step Solution Reaction for Supercapacitors with High Performance

Chenyan Guo; Haitong Ma; Qingtong Zhang; Mingfu Li; Hongrui Jiang; Changzhou Chen; Shuangfei Wang; Douyong Min

doi:10.3390/nano10030594

Nano MnO₂ Radially Grown on Lignin-Based Carbon Fiber by One-Step Solution Reaction for Supercapacitors with High Performance

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2020 Mar 24;10(3):594. doi: 10.3390/nano10030594.

Authors

Chenyan Guo^{1

2}, Haitong Ma^{1

2}, Qingtong Zhang^{1

2}, Mingfu Li^{1

2}, Hongrui Jiang¹, Changzhou Chen^{1

2}, Shuangfei Wang^{1

2}, Douyong Min^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
² Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp Papermaking and Pollution Control, Nanning 530004, China.

Abstract

MnO₂-deposited lignin-based carbon fiber (MnO₂-LCF) mats are fabricated for supercapacitor applications. LCF mats are produced from alkali lignin via electrospinning followed by stabilization and carbonization. The carbonization process is carried out at 800, 900, and 1000 °C, and the corresponding mats are denoted as MnO₂-LCF-800, MnO₂-LCF-900, and MnO₂-LCF-1000, respectively. The LCF mats are immersed in a KMnO₄ solution at room temperature for 72 h to obtain MnO₂-LCF mats. The scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis confirm the deposition of MnO₂ on the LCFs. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis, X-ray spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy reveal that MnO₂-LCF-800 mat possesses a large number of mesopores and Mn vacancies as compared to MnO₂-LCF-900 mat and MnO₂-LCF-1000 mat. Consequently, MnO₂-LCF-800 mat possesses the best electrochemical properties with a specific capacitance of 131.28 F∙g^-1, an energy density of 14.77 Wh∙kg^-1, and a power density of 135.01 W∙kg^-1 at a specific current of 0.3 A∙g^-1. Hence, MnO₂-LCF-800 mat shows high potential to be used as a high-performance supercapacitor.

Keywords: carbon fiber; electrospinning; lignin; mno2; supercapacitor.