A Review on Nanocellulose and Its Application in Supercapacitors

Abstract

Commercially available supercapacitors offer very limited advantages over other energy storage devices. Balancing their electrochemical performance such as capacitance, energy density, and cyclability is challenging. Studies have shown that this challenge can be overcome by using light and cheap substrates that are highly stable with solvents, and have high loading capacities and compatibility with nanomaterials. Nanocellulose, derived from wastes or biomass, is a good candidate for integrating with other nanosize conductive materials, such as carbon, conducting polymers, and metal oxides, as active materials or nanocomposites for supercapacitors. This review focuses on the properties and preparation of nanocellulose sourced from wastes (biomass) and bacteria, and extends to emerging materials, such as metal-organic frameworks and MXene, for nanocellulose-based supercapacitors. Even though supercapacitors are mainly composed of electrodes, electrolytes, and separators, this paper focuses on the overall electrochemical performance of nanocellulose-based supercapacitors to evaluate the influence of nanocellulose. In addition, the potentials and possible limitations of nanocellulose in supercapacitors are discussed. Overall, the incorporation of waste-derived nanocellulose into energy storage applications is an initiative that improves the circular economy and supports environmental sustainability.

Monomers and Macromolecular Materials from Renewable Resources: State of the Art and Perspectives

“…Cellulose nanofibers and cellulose nanocrystals are commercially available products obtained via chemical and mechanical treatments, including ball milling, high-pressure homogenization, 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) oxidation, acid and enzymatic hydrolysis, and combined techniques [ 33 ]. Bacterial cellulose is produced from different genera, with fermentation conditions varying mostly with respect to the culture media [ 25 ].…”

“…Because of their very high water affinity coupled with large surface-to-volume ratios, nanocelluloses form self-sustained gels with as little as 2% solid and find applications in many fields [ 6 ]. Apart from the obvious possibility of remodeling the current food packaging scenario by taking advantage of the outstanding properties of nanocelluloses [ 34 ], recent contributions demonstrate that they appear as favorable candidates for the design of hydrogels and cryogels [ 35 ], including those that exhibit electric conductive properties [ 36 ], of gas barrier [ 37 ] and membrane filtration materials [ 38 ], of supercapacitors [ 33 ], of photoremediation agents for contaminated environments [ 39 ], of oil and gas production green additives, especially in enhanced oil recovery and hydraulic fracturing applications [ 40 ], and of novel biomedical systems, as for targeted chemo-protodynamic/photothermal cancer therapy [ 41 ]. Other common applications involve nanocelluloses as paper additives, implants, dentistry aids and cosmetics, and reinforcing elements in composite materials [ 42 ].…”

Intrinsically Conducting Polymer Composites as Active Masses in Supercapacitors

“…Electrochemically inactive constituents may be added in order to establish and maintain a particularly suitable morphology of the electrode material, a specific porosity, large surface area, or flexibility. The incorporation of nanocellulose into composites of carbonaceous materials and an ICP apparently did not yield any significant advantage [ 282 , 283 ]. A fibrous matrix of functionalized CNTs and cellulose coated by chemical polymerization with PPy demonstrated a significant benefit of the added CNTs in terms of capacity retention after 5000 cycles from 68 to 110% [ 284 ].…”

Sustainable Macromolecular Materials in Flexible Electronics

“…It is environmentally friendly, nontoxic, and biodegradable for widespread use in industries based on biomaterials such as biomedical, pharmaceutical, food, and packaging. [ 84 ] Cellulose, in its native form, can be subjected to industrial processes like acid hydrolysis or high pressure grinding to shape nanofiber and nanocrystal forms that add diverse mechanical properties to the material during the formation of composites. [ 85–87 ] Together with cellulose nanocrystals, nanofibrillar cellulose, and bacterial cellulose (an efficient biotechnology product), the cellulose family constitutes one of the largest clusters of sustainable polysaccharides.…”