Sustainable Development of Graphene Electrodes for Supercapacitors through Laser Scribing of Agrowaste Derived Lignin

Abstract:

The growing rise in agricultural activities has resulted in an increase in unutilized waste which is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. This has led to a need for sustainable methods to add value to such waste. This work focused on the transformation of agricultural waste into usable products through alkaline treatment to obtain lignin and cellulose, and the evaluation of the derived lignin as a viable carbon precursor in energy storage applications. Laser scribing was used as a fast and simple strategy in producing laser-induced graphene (LIG) electrodes. Lignin was isolated from wheat straw using sodium hydroxide treatment. The pulp from the treatment was subjected to bleaching with sodium chlorite followed by acid hydrolysis to extract microcrystalline cellulose. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Transmission electron microscopy, and Xray diffraction were used for characterization of the materials produced. The fabricated supercapacitor could achieve an areal capacitance (C_A) of 5.12 mF/cm² (0.02 mA/cm²). This study illustrated the successful valorization of wheat straw residue into microcrystalline cellulose and the use of extracted lignin in producing graphitic carbon electrodes for supercapacitors.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 1152)
• Pages: 115-120
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-FGw0GQ
• Online since: June 2025
• Authors: Samuel Katwesigye*, Mohamed E. El-Khouly, Nieves López-Salas, Ahmed S.G. Khalil
• Keywords: LIG, Lignin, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Supercapacitor, Wheat Straw Fractionation

References

[1] N. Karić et al., 'Bio-waste valorisation: Agricultural wastes as biosorbents for removal of (in)organic pollutants in wastewater treatment', Chem. Eng. J. Adv., vol. 9, p.100239, Mar. 2022.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ceja.2021.100239

[2] L. Hagman and R. Feiz, 'Advancing the Circular Economy Through Organic by-Product Valorisation: A Multi-criteria Assessment of a Wheat-Based Biorefinery', Waste Biomass Valorization, vol. 12, no. 11, p.6205–6217, Nov. 2021.

DOI: 10.1007/s12649-021-01440-y

[3] S. P. Bangar, P. Kajla, and T. Ghosh, 'Valorization of wheat straw in food packaging: A source of cellulose', Int. J. Biol. Macromol., vol. 227, p.762–776, Feb. 2023.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2022.12.199

[4] Q. Dou and H. S. Park, 'Perspective on High-Energy Carbon-Based Supercapacitors', ENERGY Environ. Mater., vol. 3, no. 3, p.286–305, 2020.

DOI: 10.1002/eem2.12102

[5] K. Singhal, S. Mehtab, M. Pandey, and M. G. H. Zaidi, 'Sustainable development of graphene oxide from pine leaves for electrochemical energy storage and corrosion protection', Curr. Res. Green Sustain. Chem., vol. 5, p.100266, Jan. 2022.

DOI: 10.1016/j.crgsc.2022.100266

[6] K. Singhal, S. Mehtab, B. Bhushan Upreti, and M. G. H. Zaidi, 'Recent Advances in Biochar Modification for Energy Storage in Supercapacitors: A Review', Adv. Mater. Lett., vol. 12, no. 2, p.1–8, Feb. 2021.

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2021.021599

[7] Y. Luo et al., 'Stretchable and Flexible Non-Enzymatic Glucose Sensor Based on Poly(ether sulfone)-Derived Laser-Induced Graphene for Wearable Skin Diagnostics', Adv. Mater. Technol., vol. 7, no. 9, p.2101571, 2022.

DOI: 10.1002/admt.202101571

[8] J. de la Roche, I. López-Cifuentes, and A. Jaramillo-Botero, 'Influence of lasing parameters on the morphology and electrical resistance of polyimide-based laser-induced graphene (LIG)', Carbon Lett., vol. 33, no. 2, p.587–595, Mar. 2023.

DOI: 10.1007/s42823-022-00447-2

[9] C. Zhu et al., 'Direct laser writing of graphene films from a polyether ether ketone precursor', J. Mater. Sci., vol. 54, no. 5, p.4192–4201, Mar. 2019.

DOI: 10.1007/s10853-018-3123-5

[10] S. Wang et al., 'All-solid-state supercapacitors from natural lignin-based composite film by laser direct writing', Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 115, no. 8, p.083904, Aug. 2019.

DOI: 10.1063/1.5118340

[11] J. Tharunkumar, V. K. Arosha, A. K. Bajhaiya, and S. Rakesh, 'Optimizing alkaline pretreatment for delignification of paddy straw and sugarcane bagasse to enhance bioethanol production', Biomass Convers. Biorefinery, Feb. 2024.

DOI: 10.1007/s13399-024-05458-9

[12] I. M. Fareez, N. A. Ibrahim, W. M. H. Wan Yaacob, N. A. Mamat Razali, A. H. Jasni, and F. Abdul Aziz, 'Characteristics of cellulose extracted from Josapine pineapple leaf fibre after alkali treatment followed by extensive bleaching', Cellulose, vol. 25, no. 8, p.4407–4421, Aug. 2018.

DOI: 10.1007/s10570-018-1878-0

[13] D.-T. Van-Pham, T. Y. N. Pham, M. C. Tran, C.-N. Nguyen, and Q. Tran-Cong-Miyata, 'Extraction of thermally stable cellulose nanocrystals in short processing time from waste newspaper by conventional acid hydrolysis', Mater. Res. Express, vol. 7, no. 6, p.065004, Jun. 2020.

DOI: 10.1088/2053-1591/ab9668

[14] J. Jeong, S. Kim, S. Yun, X. Yang, and Y. J. Kim, 'Preparation and Characterization of Low CTE Poly(ethersulfone) Using Lignin Nano Composites as Flexible Substrates', Polymers, vol. 15, no. 14, Art. no. 14, Jan. 2023.

DOI: 10.3390/polym15143113

[15] J. Giri et al., 'Structural, thermal and mechanical properties of composites of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) with wheat straw microcrystalline cellulose', Polym. Bull., vol. 78, no. 9, p.4779–4795, Sep. 2021.

DOI: 10.1007/s00289-020-03339-5

[16] Yu. N. Malyar et al., 'Sulfation of wheat straw soda lignin: Role of solvents and catalysts', Catal. Today, vol. 397–399, p.397–406, Aug. 2022.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cattod.2021.07.033

[17] F. Mahmood, H. Zhang, J. Lin, and C. Wan, 'Laser-Induced Graphene Derived from Kraft Lignin for Flexible Supercapacitors', ACS Omega, vol. 5, no. 24, p.14611–14618, Jun. 2020.

DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c01293

[18] H. Kim, S. Hwang, T. Hwang, J. B. In, and J. Yeo, 'Digitally Patterned Mesoporous Carbon Nanostructures of Colorless Polyimide for Transparent and Flexible Micro-Supercapacitor', Energies, vol. 14, no. 9, Art. no. 9, Jan. 2021.

DOI: 10.3390/en14092547

[19] X.-Y. Fu, R.-Y. Shu, C.-J. Ma, Y.-Y. Zhang, H.-B. Jiang, and M.-N. Yao, 'Self-assembled MXene-graphene oxide composite enhanced laser-induced graphene based electrodes towards conformal supercapacitor applications', Appl. Surf. Sci., vol. 631, p.157549, Sep. 2023.

DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2023.157549