Issue 9, 2020

Sustainable production of nano α-Fe2O3/N-doped biochar hybrid nanosheets for supercapacitors

Abstract

Transition metal oxide (TMO)/carbon hybrid materials have shown great potential in energy storage applications. However, their facile, environmentally friendly, cost-efficient and scalable production still remains a challenge. Herein, two-dimensional nano α-Fe2O3/N-doped biochar hybrid nanosheets (α-Fe2O3/NBCS) derived from biomass waste were successfully fabricated via a molten salt route. The molten salt would hinder the decomposition of the carbon framework so that the direct one-step fabrication of an iron oxide/biochar hybrid in an air atmosphere at high temperature could be achieved. The introduction of biomass waste could reduce the crystallite size of α-Fe2O3, and the O2 in air could facilitate the formation of α-Fe2O3, while Fe3O4 was obtained in Ar due to the presence of reducing power of biomass carbon. Compared to the pure α-Fe2O3 sample, the hybrid material showed a much-improved electrochemical performance because of the synergistic effect of α-Fe2O3 and N-doped biochar nanosheets. When applied as the negative electrode material, it exhibited a high specific capacitance of 452.3 F g−1 at 2 A g−1 with a good rate capability in a three-electrode system, and a satisfactory energy density of 17.9 W h kg−1 was obtained in an asymmetric supercapacitor with a fungal manganese oxide-based positive electrode. The satisfactory results suggested that the fabricated α-Fe2O3/NBCS could be a candidate of negative electrode materials for supercapacitor applications. Overall, this work provides an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient route to synthesize TMO/carbon hybrid materials with a simplified synthetic procedure for large-scale production accompanied by the high value-added conversion of biomass waste.

Graphical abstract: Sustainable production of nano α-Fe2O3/N-doped biochar hybrid nanosheets for supercapacitors

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Apr 2020
Accepted
13 Jun 2020
First published
15 Jun 2020

Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2020,4, 4522-4530

Sustainable production of nano α-Fe2O3/N-doped biochar hybrid nanosheets for supercapacitors

P. Li, H. Xie, X. Wang, Y. Xie, Y. Wang and Y. Zhang, Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2020, 4, 4522 DOI: 10.1039/D0SE00627K

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