Energy Storing Plant Stem with Cytocompatibility for Supercapacitor Electrode

Abstract

Endowing natural biological objects, such as plants or their parts, with non-native and targeted electroactivity is an appealing challenge in nanobiotechnology, which if addressed will circumvent the biomass carbonization and promote the emission-free transformation of raw bioresources for green energy. Here, a general concept to produce supercapacitor electrodes from plant stems is reported, which exhibit promising electroactivity and cytocompatibility. The core innovation is to apply a conformal electroactive coating onto the surfaces of hyperbranched channels of plant stem by interfacial self-assembly. The electroactive plant stem can be employed as a functional supercapacitor electrode, the capacitance of which is up to 2.35 F. Furthermore, more than 98% cell viability is well maintained after the plant stem electrode is incubated with MCF-7 cells for 72 h, and even after 100 discharge-recharge cycles, suggesting this plant stem electrode has excellent cytocompatibility and cycling stability. This energy storing plant stem gives rise to new opportunities for integrating natural bioresources with artificial electroactive nanomaterials for cytocompatible energy storage devices.

A Perspective of Bioinspired Interfaces Applied in Renewable Energy Storage and Conversion Devices

“…By biomimicking a uniform wood fiber that was vertically aligned by hundreds of water filtration channels (Figure 3d), a unique superhydrophilic cylindrical electrode was designed within a diameter of 1 cm and a height of 5 cm, in which an individual tube-like interface displayed a diameter of about 3−5 μm with a thin outer shell of 420 nm. 37 As for flexible one-dimensional interfaces, an elastic single nanowire with polythiophenes matrices was established on the basis of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide bioinspired by a cellular energy transduction responsibility to adenosine triphosphate in living cells, whose tensile strength reached 153 MPa similar to suture fibers frequently used in surgical operations. 38 Moreover, to enhance tensile strength of this individual nanowire-like interface, a bundle of incompact nanowires were twisted tightly to consolidate as a solid single fiber with a section diameter of approximately 100 μm (Figure 3e).…”

“…The immobilized TALP precursors self-assembled in the stem channels. Reproduced with permission from ref . Copyright 2021, Wiley-Blackwell.…”

“…Natural templates formed on account of these ordered one-dimensional vertical nanoarray interfaces, such as internal surfaces of honeycomb, bamboo, lotus roots, and mitten crab carapaces, provided many constructive constructs for designing effective hydrophilic interfaces. By biomimicking a uniform wood fiber that was vertically aligned by hundreds of water filtration channels (Figure d), a unique superhydrophilic cylindrical electrode was designed within a diameter of 1 cm and a height of 5 cm, in which an individual tube-like interface displayed a diameter of about 3–5 μm with a thin outer shell of 420 nm …”

Effect of plasma jet on electrochemical properties of silk fibroin hydrogel doped with PEDOT:PSS

“…Because of its soft, comfortable, excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and many other advantages, it is more and more popular among researchers. The supercapacitor is mainly composed of two active electrodes 12 and a hydrogel electrolyte 13 . The hydrogel electrolyte is sandwiched between the two active electrodes to transfer ions.…”

Construction of Binder‐Free, Self‐Supported, Hetero‐Core–Shell Honeycomb Structured CuCo2O4@Ni0.5Co0.5(OH)2 with Abundant Mesopores and High Conductivity for High‐Performance Energy Storage

“…With the ongoing development and utilization of new green energy sources (e.g., wind, tidal, solar, and biogas), the demand for energy storage devices that are portable, high performing, and low consumption is increasing. [1][2][3] Notably, secondary batteries and supercapacitors (SCs) have made impressive strides in the past two decades. [4,5] In comparison to secondary batteries, SCs possess exceptional qualities, such as cost-effectiveness, [6] high safety, [7] high power density, [8] fast charging/discharging rate, [9] and long cycle life.…”