Cellulose intercalation activation of natural ramie fiber derived carbon electrode for flexible supercapacitors

The complex structure of cellulose leads to its low accessibility to reagents, which hinders the further development of cellulose-based natural fibers in supercapacitors. The key issue is how to achieve deep internal activation while maintaining the flexible self-supporting skeleton structure of cellulose. In this work, an intercalation activation method was proposed. The activator infiltrated into the cellulose microcrystalline structure under rapid swelling to construct a new hydrogen bond network. RC/N2 has a large specific surface area (1897 m 2 g −1 ) and exhibits excellent electrochemical performance due to the uniform activation of NaOH pre-inserted between cellulose layers while ensuring the flexibility of cellulose. At a current density of 0.1 A g −1 , it reaches 352 F g −1 , and the assembled symmetric supercapacitor has a capacitance retention rate of 98 % after 70,000 cycles. In addition, the symmetric flexible supercapacitor assembled based on RC/N2 has good stability after multi-angle bending, which opens up further possibilities for the development of flexible energy storage devices.