Lignin Nanofiber Flexible Carbon Aerogels for Self‐Standing Supercapacitors

Renewable feedstocks are sought for clean technology applications, including energy storage applications. In this study, LignoForce™ lignin, a biobased aromatic polymer commercially isolated from wood, was fractioned into two parts using acetone, and the resulting lignin fractions had distinct thermo-rheological behavior. These two fractionated lignins were combined in various ratios and transformed into nanofibers by electrospinning. Subsequently, electrospun fiber materials were disrupted by agitating the mats in water, and the materials were transformed into ultralight 3D aerogels through lyophilization and post-process controlled heating. Using only this combination of two fractions, the morphology of lignin nanofibers was tailored by heat treatment, resulting in lignin aerogels with high flexibility and significant shape recovery properties. Various microscale structures of lignin fibers impacted the resulting physical properties of the elastic aerogel materials, such as resilience, compressive strength, and electrical conductivity for the corresponding carbonized samples. By exploiting lignin's sensitivity to heat and tailoring the thermal properties of the lignin through fractionation, the work provided an interesting path to form robust lignin-derived functional materials without any toxic chemical additives and significant ability to serve as free-standing electrodes with specific capacitance values better than some graphene-based supercapacitors.