Combination of chemical foaming strategy and laser-induced graphene technology for enhanced paper-based microsupercapacitor

Abstract

Laser-induced graphene (LIG) technology is qualified for manufacturing in-plane microsupercapacitors (MSCs) for its low cost and efficient fabrication. However, useable substrate and modification mechanism are mutual restricted for properties of materials. In this work, we creatively combine the chemical foaming strategy and laser-induced graphene technology based on commercial paper. Through a simple process, capacitance of assembled paper-based MSC is ∼350 times higher than control group without foaming and ∼7 times higher than device based on frequently-used polymer film. Specific areal capacitance and areal energy density reach up to 23.8 mF cm−2 and 2.64 μWh cm−2 respectively. This obvious capacitance enhancement is also accompanied by significantly reduced electrochemical impedance (almost two orders of magnitude smaller than unfoamed one) and excellent cycle performance (97% capacitance retention after 10000 cycles at high rates). It can be explained by distinct porous morphology, increased specific surface area (∼4 times higher than unfoamed material), changed N-doping type (increased pyridinic N) and improved product yield (∼2 times higher than control group) of the laser-induced foamed graphene (LIFG) material. The methodology proposed in this work paves a new avenue for modulating structures and components and improving electrode/electrolyte interface of carbon materials for high-performance energy storage devices.