Three-dimensional hybrid material constructed by cellulose nanofibers/multiwall carbon nanotubes aerogel and foam nickel and its electrochemical capacitance performance

Three-dimensional (3D) electrode materials are ideal candidates for use in fabricating high-performance supercapacitors, owing to their unique network structure and excellent electrochemical properties. Although cellulose nanofibers (CNF) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are widely used in the development and design of electrode materials, how to use their unique one-dimensional nanostructures and inherent physical properties to build high-performance 3D electrode materials remains a huge challenge. Herein, an aerogel film produced by the freeze-drying self-aggregation of MWCNTs and CNFs was used as the “filling,” and an inter-connected 3D network of nickel foam (NF) as the “framework,” for well-design and fabrication of an MWCNT/CNF-NF hybrid materials. Benefiting from the excellent conductivity and high specific surface area of the MWCNT/CNF-NF, it is exceptionally suitable for use as the electroactive material platform in the fabrication of high-performance electrodes. Therefore, in this work, the high-performance polypyrrole (PPy)-MWCNT/CNF-NF freestanding electrodes were successfully prepared by optimizing the time of the electroactive material polypyrrole. As expected, the electrode exhibits a high areal capacity of 2 217.8 mF·cm−2 (869.9 F·g−1) at a current density of 5 mA·cm−2, with good stability even after 3 000 charge-discharge cycles. © 2023 Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA). All rights reserved.