In this contribution, we explore the use of fines for advanced energy applications. Fines are a major side stream in fiber manufacturing industries. Here, we present a strategy how to make use of fines as electrode materials with applications in supercapacitors. Different activation procedures for fines to obtain highly porous activated carbons are tested with KOH being the most effective one, allowing for manufacturing materials with specific surface area as high as 1570 m2/g A further increase of the SSA (up to 2200 m2/g) is realized by incorporation of cellulose nanocrystals into the fines, thereby creating a hierarchical structure. The electrode materials are implemented in symmetric supercapacitors using organic electrolytes (TEABF4 in acetonitrile). The capacitance of the materials is up to 164 F/g, depending on the CNC content and the Ragone plot demonstrates that the performance of the fines based carbonaceous materials is significantly better than those reported in literature.

Paper fines as renewable source for supercapacitor electrode materials

255th National Meeting (2018)

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