Sustainable Synthesis and Assembly of Biomass-Derived B/N Co-Doped Carbon Nanosheets with Ultrahigh Aspect Ratio for High-Performance Supercapacitors

The practical application of graphene has still been hindered by high cost and scarcity in supply. It boosts great interest in seeking for low-cost substitute of graphene for upcoming usage where extremely physical properties are not absolutely critical. The conversion of renewable biomass offers a great opportunity for sustainable and economic fabrication of 2D carbon nanostructures. However, large-scale production of carbon nanosheets with ultrahigh aspect ratio, satisfied electronic properties, and the capability of organized assembly like graphene has been rarely reported. In this work, a facile yet efficient approach for mass production of flexible boric/nitrogen co-doped carbon nanosheets with very thin thickness of 5-8 nm and ultrahigh aspect ratio of over 6000-10 000 is demonstrated by assembling the biomass molecule in long-range order on 2D hard template and subsequent annealing. The advantage of these doped carbon nanosheets over conventional products lies in that they can be readily assembled to multilevel architectures such as freestanding flexible thin film and ultralight aerogels with better electrical properties, which exhibit exceptional capacitive performance for supercapacitor application. The recyclability of boric acid template further reduces the discharge of the waste and processing cost, rendering high cost-effectiveness and environmental benignity for scalable production.