A new lamellar larch-based carbon material: Fabrication, electrochemical characterization and supercapacitor applications

Efficient utilization of waste wood sawdust to prepare carbon-based materials with regular morphologies and pore structures continues to be of interest, with the ultimate aim of fabricating optimized electrode materials for use in energy storage devices. This work used a process involving the liquefaction of larch wood sawdust together with in situ doping of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) to act as a silica-based template. This allowed the fabrication of carbon materials with a uniform lamellar structure. As a result of its specific morphology and its hierarchical pore structure, this larch-based carbon demonstrated excellent electrochemical supercapacitor performance. The regular lamellar structure provided transmission channels for ions and also promoted charge storage. Remarkably, the material showed high values of specific capacitance (288 F/g), energy density (93.73 Wh/kg) and power density (850 W/kg) at a current density of 0.2 A/g in a 1 M KOH electrolyte. Good rate performance and stability (with capacitance retention exceeding 97 % after 3000 cycles) were also observed. This work demonstrates a new approach to value-added utilization of larch waste by producing a material that is an excellent candidate for manufacture of supercapacitor electrodes.