Lignin-derived nitrogen-doped polyacrylonitrile/polyaniline carbon nanofibers by electrospun method for energy storage

Herein, we employed the lignin as sustainable carbon precursor with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) to synthesize the carbon nanofibers (CNFs), and coated the polyaniline (PANI) to acquire the high N-doped CNFs. The as-obtained lignin-derived nitrogen-doped polyacrylonitrile/polyaniline carbon nanofibers (LCNFs/PANI/N-9) displayed excellent properties, such as the large specific surface areas of 483.1 m(2) g(-1), uniform pore size distributions of 9.1 nm, high graphitic structure, and high nitrogen doping content of 6.31 wt%. The uniform diameter of CNFs could allow a short ion diffusion path with efficient electron transport. And the highest specific capacitance of the LCNFs/PANI/N-9 increased to 199.5 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1). Besides, the N-doped CNFs presented excellent cycling stability with 82% capacitance retention after 1000 charge-discharge cycles at the current density of 4 A g(-1). This research opened the new promising of high-value applications for inexpensive and renewable biomass.