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Article Cite This: ACS Omega 2018, 3, 4647−4656
Facile Preparation of Self-Standing Hierarchical Porous NitrogenDoped Carbon Fibers for Supercapacitors from Plant Protein−Lignin Electrospun Fibers Jingqi Yang,† Yixiang Wang,‡ Jingli Luo,§ and Lingyun Chen*,† †
Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, T6G 2P5 Edmonton, Canada Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, H9X 3V9 Montreal, Québec, Canada § Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, T6G 2V4 Edmonton, Canada ‡
S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: This research aims to develop self-standing nitrogen-doped carbon fiber networks from plant protein− lignin electrospun fibrous mats for supercapacitors. The challenge in preparing carbon fiber from protein is to maintain a fibrous structure during carbonization process. Thus, lignin was incorporated with protein. At protein-to-lignin ratio of 50:50 to 20:80, the electrospun fibers maintained their structure after carbonization and formed self-standing carbon fiber mats. Stacked graphene layer structure was developed in the carbon fibers at a relatively low carbonization temperature (
