Sustainable Production of Oxygen-Rich Hierarchically Porous Carbon Network from Corn Straw Lignin and Silk Degumming Wastewater for High-Performance Electrochemical Energy Storage

Abstract

Herein, a clean, green and sustainable strategy is presented to prepare a high-performance energy storage material, the sericin-lignin derived hierarchically porous carbon materials (SLHPCs). Extracted from biomass waste, corn straw lignin and sericin from silk degumming wastewater are endowed a high added value. Combining the cross-linking reaction between lignin and sericin and the bio-template role of sericin, the as-prepared SLHPC-2 possesses an advantageous pore structure, a high BET specific surface area (1948.4 m 2 g -1 ) with a superior mesoporous area (598.6 m 2 g -1 ). The high in-situ oxygen doping (14%) is simultaneously realized. It exhibits remarkable electrochemical properties and displays the universality in either alkali, acid or neutral electrolyte as supercapacitor (SC) electrode. The as-assembled symmetrical button-type SLHPC-based SC transmits a high energy density of 17.0 Wh kg -1 at power density of 500.1 W kg -1 and retains 13.3 Wh kg -1 at 10.0 kW kg -1 . The bio-template porogen role of sericin can be extended to be a universal fabrication of biomass wastes-based hierarchically porous carbon material. The proposed recycling strategy of biomass waste resources paves a way for new applications in the field of energy storage.