International Journal of Energy Research

Volume 46, Issue 10 pp. 14517-14525

SHORT COMMUNICATION

Trash to treasure: Fallen leaves as separators for supercapacitors

Shaoqin Chen,

Shaoqin Chen

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA

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Yun H. Hu,

Corresponding Author

Yun H. Hu

[email protected]

orcid.org/0000-0002-5358-8667

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA

Correspondence

Yun H. Hu, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931-1295, USA.

Email: [email protected]

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Shaoqin Chen,

Shaoqin Chen

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA

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Yun H. Hu,

Corresponding Author

Yun H. Hu

[email protected]

orcid.org/0000-0002-5358-8667

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA

Correspondence

Yun H. Hu, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931-1295, USA.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 13 May 2022

https://doi.org/10.1002/er.8096

Citations: 8

Funding information: American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, Grant/Award Number: PRF-60329-ND10; National Science Foundation of United States, Grant/Award Number: CMMI-1661699

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Summary

Electrochemical double-layer capacitors are an essential type of energy-storage devices due to their fast charge/discharge rate, ultralong cycle life, and safe operation. A separator plays an important role in supercapacitors to prevent short circuit while allow ions to move through its porous structure. Herein, we demonstrated fallen leaves as efficient separators in supercapacitors with dense mesoporous carbon electrodes, achieving a high areal capacitance of 1.94 F/cm². Among four leaves, Quercus rubra leaf exhibited the best electrochemical performance as a separator for supercapacitors, which is even comparable to the commercial glass fiber separator. This finding provides an approach not only to transfer waste into treasure but also to develop sustainable separators for energy-storage devices.

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Open Research

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that supports the findings of this study are available in the supplementary material of this article.

Supporting Information

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Trash to treasure: Fallen leaves as separators for supercapacitors

Summary

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

Open Research

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Supporting Information

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Trash to treasure: Fallen leaves as separators for supercapacitors

Summary

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

Open Research

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Supporting Information

REFERENCES

Citing Literature

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