Electroless decoration of cellulose paper with nickel nanoparticles: A hybrid carbon fiber for supercapacitors

    In this study, we transform wood to cellulose fiber using mature papermaking technology. The cellulose fibers are decorated with nickel(Ni) nanoparticles via electroless deposition and then activated at high temperature to obtain a carbon fiber–Ni nanoparticle hybrid material.The performance of this hybrid materials as a supercapacitor electrode is evaluated.

   We demonstrated a facile method to fabricate a hybrid material composed of carbon fiber with nickel nanoparticles from cellulose paper. Papermaking transformed the amorphous structure of soft wood to carbon fiber. Rough metal nanoparticles were then deposited on the carbon fiber by electroless deposition. This approach only relied on intrinsic structuring mechanisms of randomly arranged fibers and metal nanoparticle deposition during electroless plating and subsequent car- bonization at 700°C. No complex multistep processes were required, only standard chemicals were used, and the support was synthesized from biomass, which is an abundant resource. Electroless decoration of the carbon fiber with nickel nanoparticles optimized the supercapacitive performance of the material. The hybrid material displayed a high specific capacitance of 268 F/g in 6M KOH at a current density of 0.2 A/g, good cyclic stability with capacitance retention of 97% after 2000 cycles, outstanding conductance stability, and favorable mechanical flexibility. These results indicate that this flexible, highly conductive, and free-standing hybrid carbon fiber–Ni holds great promise as an electrode material to fabricate high-performance, flexible,and hand-held energy storage devices.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2018.05.024