Plant Biomass Derived Multidimensional Nanostructured Materials: A Green Alternative for Energy Storage

Abstract

Utilization of plant-based bioresources toward the exploration and development of novel nano materials for long-term sustainable energy storage could enhance cost competitiveness in terms of energy supply markets and reduction of environmental impacts, and meet the urgent need for green and sustainable development strategies. The latest research trend in energy storage is to focus on storage devices including supercapacitors (SC), lithium-ion batteries, fuel cells, and lead-acid batteries. SCs are attractive due to their superior performance in power and energy densities along with prolonged life cycle and easy operating conditions in applications such as electric vehicles, portable electronics as well as stationary electric grids. Since SCs are constructed by non-renewable and fossil resources, urgent alternative effective materials are the need of the hour. Multidimensional high porosity nanostructured carbon from renewable biomass sources could be a promising greener alternative as electrode materials for SC. In SCs, porous nanocarbon derived from biomass acts as conductive layer on the electrode surface. Electrical conductivity, accessibility of electrolyte, pore structure and shape, pore size distribution, along with high surface area play major roles on the specific capacitance of the SC. This review comprises the latest research platforms on biomass-derived multidimensional nano carbon electrode materials for energy storage devices specifically for SCs and their future outlook.