Lignosulfonate composited with electronic polymers for large scale energy storage applications

“A renewable resource from existing forest industry is the black liquor that mainly goes to combustion. The dominating biopolymer in black liquor is a derivative of lignin. At LiU we have shown how lignin and lignosulfonate (LS) can be used to store charge into biopolymer electrodes, and built supercapacitors/supercabatteries of such electrodes. In these electrodes, LS is combined with electronic polymers. The aromatic part of LS may in part be converted to electroactive quinone which doubles the storage capacity of charge in the biopolymer electrodes, as compared to electrodes of only electronic polymers. In the project, the synthesis of these materials should be optimized and up-scaled so that electrodes can be prepared in a fast process similar to that used to form paper from dispersions of cellulose fibers. The participants contributes with knowledge and skills in electronic polymers and biopolymer electrodes (LiU), knowledge and materials for lignin derivatives (Domsjö-Adityabirla) and expertise in scaling up and using biopolymer electrodes in components (Ligna Energy AB).”