Self-assembled porous biomass carbon/RGO/nanocellulose hybrid aerogels for self-supporting supercapacitor electrodes

Abstract Reasonable design of hybrid graphene aerogels with low cost, high specific surface area (SSA), and excellent mechanical properties is of great significance for future large-scale energy storage applications. Herein, we report a composite aerogel of biomass carbon/reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/nanocellulose (CNF) by a one-step self-assembly method. In the hybrid aerogel, biomass carbon particles with low cost and high SSA are assembled into the framework of rGO effectively preventing the restacking of rGO nanosheets and resulting in high SSA and high conductivity. Negatively charged nanocellulose fibers act as the binder between biomass carbon particles and rGO sheets, facilitating the formation of a strengthening network. As a result, the hybrid aerogel with a high content of biomass carbon (76% mass ratio) demonstrates excellent mechanical strength (240 kPa), high SSA (1007.9 m2 g−1), and efficient MnO2 deposition capability (33.9 mg cm−2). Employing the composite aerogel as electrodes to fabricate a self-supporting supercapacitor, an admirable capacitive performance (4.8F cm−2) was achieved. This work provides an effective method to fabricate low cost hybrid graphene aerogel materials with excellent performances for wide applications.