J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2023, Vol. 151: 178-189.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2022.11.049

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Biologically inspired anthraquinone redox centers and biomass graphene for renewable colloidal gels toward ultrahigh-performance flexible micro-supercapacitors

Tiansheng Wanga,b,c,d,e, Shunyou Hud,e, Yuanyuan Hud,e, Dong Wud,e, Hao Wua,d,e, Jinxu Huanga,d,e, Hao Wangd,e, Weiwei Zhaod,e, Wen Yud,e, Mi Wangd,e, Jie Xua,b,c,*, Jiaheng Zhanga,d,e,f,*   

  1. aSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China;
    bKey Laboratory of Micro-systems and Micro-structures Manufacturing of Ministry of Education, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China;
    cNational Innovation Center for Advanced Medical Devices, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 457001, China;
    dResearch Centre of Printed Flexible Electronics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China;
    eSauvage Laboratory for Smart Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China;
    fDepartment of Chemistry, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83844-2343, USA
  • Received:2022-10-13 Revised:2022-11-22 Accepted:2022-11-25 Published:2023-07-10 Online:2023-02-22
  • Contact: * School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China. E-mail addresses: xjhit@hit.edu.cn (J. Xu), zhangjiaheng@hit.edu.cn (J. Zhang).

Abstract: Biomass carbon and small redox biomolecules are attractive materials for green, sustainable energy storage devices owing to their environmentally friendly, low-cost, scalable, and novel sources. However, most devices manufactured using these materials have low specific capacitance, poor cycle stability, short lifetime, complexity, and low precision of device fabrication. Herein, we report the directed self-assembly of mononuclear anthraquinone (MAQ) derivatives and porous lignin-based graphene oxide (PLGO) into a renewable colloidal gel through noncovalent interactions. These self-assembled gel electrode materials exhibited high capacitance (484.8 F g-1 at a current density of 1 A g-1) and could be further printed as flexible micro-supercapacitors (FMSCs) with arbitrary patterns and a relatively high resolution on specific substrates. The FMSCs exhibited excellent areal capacitance (43.6 mF cm-2), energy and power densities (6.1 μWh cm-2 and 50 μW cm-2, respectively), and cycle stability (> 10,000 cycles). Furthermore, the printed FMSCs and integrated FMSC arrays exhibited remarkable flexibility while maintaining a stable capacitance. The proposed approach can be applied to other quinone biomolecules and biomass-based carbon materials. This study provides a basis for fabricating green and sustainable energy storage device architectures with high capacitance, long-term cycling, high scalability, and high precision.

Key words: Biomass carbon, Mononuclear anthraquinone, Noncovalent interactions, Renewable colloidal gel, Flexible micro-supercapacitors