High-Density Lignin-Derived Carbon Nanofiber Supercapacitors with Enhanced Volumetric Energy Density

Supercapacitors are increasingly used in short-distance electric transportation due to their long lifetime (≈15 years) and fast charging capability (>10 A g⁻¹). To improve their market penetration, while minimizing onboard weight and maximizing space-efficiency, materials costs must be reduced (<10 $ kg⁻¹) and the volumetric energy-density increased (>8 Wh L⁻¹). Carbon nanofibers display good gravimetric capacitance, yet their marketability is hindered by their low density (0.05–0.1 g cm⁻³). Here, the authors increase the packing density of low-cost, free-standing carbon nanofiber mats (from 0.1 to 0.6 g cm⁻³) through uniaxial compression. X-ray computed tomography reveals that densification occurs by reducing the inter-fiber pore size (from 1–5 µm to 0.2–0.5 µm), which are not involved in double-layer capacitance. The improved packing density is directly proportional to the volumetric performances of the device, which reaches a volumetric capacitance of 130 F cm⁻³ and energy density of 6 Wh L⁻¹ at 0.1 A g⁻¹ using a loading of 3 mg cm⁻². The results outperform most commercial and lab-scale porous carbons synthesized from bioresources (50–100 F cm⁻³, 1–3 Wh L⁻¹ using 10 mg cm⁻²) and contribute to the scalable design of sustainable electrodes with minimal ‘dead volume’ for efficient supercapacitors.