Chemically tuned cellulose nanocrystals/single wall carbon nanosheet based electrodes for hybrid supercapacitors†

Adopting a green and environmentally friendly strategy requires the development of supercapacitor electrodes using sustainable, renewable, and environmentally beneficial materials. Chemically stable and renewable cellulose-based supercapacitors need high-quality carbon materials with excellent mechanical and electrical characteristics to create a three-dimensional network-based electrode. Nevertheless, using cellulose as a supercapacitor electrode with enhanced electrochemical characteristics presents a difficulty. This paper describes creating and producing electrodes for supercapacitors using nano-composites consisting of wrapped-around single-walled carbon nanotubes to improve performance. The electrode's optimal electrochemical characteristics were achieved by using a concentration of 9 wt% MACNC/CNT nanocomposites. The proposed electrode material for the MACNC-based flexible supercapacitor assembly demonstrates outstanding electrochemical stability and effective electrochemical performance. When tested in a three-electrode cell configuration, it achieves an areal capacitance of 1389.202 mF cm⁻² at a current density of 0.02 A cm⁻², with 74.6% cyclic retention after 12 000 cycles. This study effectively converted agricultural waste into high-performing supercapacitor electrodes using a simple and cost-efficient method. This innovative design and outstanding electrochemical performance show great promise in using environmentally friendly materials to improve nanocellulose-based sustainable energy storage systems.