Scientists have synthesized metal-containing carbon composites from hydrolytic lignin modified with metals. The new material is capable of storing electrical charge and can be used as the main component of supercapacitors in electronics and energy engineering. The results of the work were published in the Journal of the Siberian Federal University.

Hydrolysis lignin is a difficult-to-dispose waste formed during the processing of wood raw materials which leads to serious environmental problems. On the other hand, it is a promising raw material resource made of carbon. Its unique structure makes it a potential source of low-cost bio-raw materials. Due to its high carbon content, hydrolytic lignin can be used to create materials with special properties and use them as catalysts, sorbents and electrodes.

Scientists from the Federal Research Center "Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS" have modified hydrolytic wood lignin and obtained porous metal-carbon materials that can be used in various industries.

To process lignin waste into useful products, specialists supplemented it with transition metal salts - zinc, nickel and iron chloride. The resulting material was tested for its ability to accumulate an electrical charge. The results were positive. Such a composite can be used to create electrodes for supercapacitors - special types of capacitors with a high capacity which are able to quickly accumulate and release charge. Supercapacitors are used in electric vehicles, industrial energy storage systems and telecommunications equipment.

“The processing of waste and large-scale technical hydrolytic lignin into valuable products attracts attention due to both its low cost and the possibility of obtaining products with unique structural characteristics. Chemical activation of lignin using inorganic reagents can lead to materials with special properties, such as electrical capacity and magnetism, which are of particular interest to various industrial fields. The synthesis of porous metal-carbon materials based on hydrolytic lignin and metals helped us understand key aspects of their structure and identify their potential as electrode materials for supercapacitors. These materials can have a wide range of applications in various industries, including electronics and energy engineering. It also opens up new opportunities in the search for more accessible and effective biomaterials, which is an urgent task for modern science,” said Svetlana Tsyganova, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, senior researcher at the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology SB RAS.