Highly porous submicron activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were derived from low sulfonated alkali lignin and fabricated into electric supercapacitors. The ACFs exhibited high surface area, hydrophilicity and electrical conductivities. As a result, they have demonstrated exceptional electrochemical performances. ACFs from KOH activation in particular, have shown a very high specific capacitance of 344 F/g at low electrode mass and scanning rate. A decent specific capacitance of 196 F/g and remarkable areal capacitance of 0.6 F/cm2 were obtained at high electrode mass and scanning rate, resulting in high energy density of 8.1 Wh/kg (averaged) at high scanning rate. An outstanding 96% capacitance retention was achieved after 5000 cycles. Such excellent performances that were comparable even superior to graphene and carbon nanotubes based electrodes showed great potentials of converting lignin to functional carbon materials for energy storage.

High energy density supercapacitors from lignin derived submicron activated carbon fibers

247th National Meeting (2014)

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