Self-standing banana-peel-derived hard carbon/CNF anodes for sodium-ion batteries with voltage-window-dependent electrochemical behaviour
4 affiliations
- 1National Research Council (CNR), Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies “Nicola Giordano” (ITAE) Via S. Lucia Sopra Contesse, 5 Messina 98126 Italy
- 2Politecnico of Turin, Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT) Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24 10129 Torino Italy
- 3University of Messina, Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences Viale F. Stagno d'Alcontres 31 98166 Messina (ME) Italy
- 4University of Messina, Department of Engineering, Contrada di Dio Messina 98158 Italy
Abstract
Sustainable and binder-free electrode architectures are attracting increasing interest for sodium-ion batteries, particularly when waste-derived active materials can be integrated into self-standing conductive networks. Herein, we report a freestanding hard-carbon/carbon-nanofibre anode obtained by incorporating banana-peel-derived hard carbon into an electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-derived carbon nanofibre (CNF) scaffold. The banana-peel precursor was converted into activated hard carbon through dual H3PO4/ZnCl2 treatment followed by carbonization, while electrospinning and thermal conversion enabled its integration into a flexible binder-free banana-peel-derived hard-carbon/carbon-nanofibre (B-HC/CNF) film. Structural, textural and surface analyses revealed a disordered turbostratic carbon phase with accessible micro/mesoporosity, defective sp2 domains and oxygen-containing surface functionalities. Compared with pristine CNF, the B-HC/CNF electrode delivered a higher reversible capacity in sodium half-cells, increasing from about 172 to 307 mAh g−1 in the 0.01–2.6 V window, together with an improved initial coulombic efficiency. Kinetic analysis based on cyclic voltammetry indicated a mixed sodium-storage behaviour involving both diffusion-controlled and capacitive contributions. The comparison between wide and narrow voltage windows highlighted the trade-off between capacity and reversibility: the 0.01–2.6 V range provided higher capacity but progressive fading, whereas the 0.01–0.5 V window promoted more stable cycling and coulombic efficiencies close to 100% after interfacial stabilization. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), galvanostatic intermittent titration technique (GITT) and post-cycling scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses showed that long-term degradation is mainly governed by interfacial resistance build-up, hindered Na+ transport and accumulation of electrolyte-derived surface deposits, rather than by collapse of the freestanding fibrous framework. These results demonstrate the potential of banana-peel-derived hard carbon/CNF electrodes as sustainable self-standing anodes for sodium-ion batteries, while identifying interfacial stabilization as a key target for further optimization.
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BibTeX
@article{joshi2026selfstanding,
title = {{Self-standing banana-peel-derived hard carbon/CNF anodes for sodium-ion batteries with voltage-window-dependent electrochemical behaviour}},
author = {Mayank Joshi and Emanuele La Mazza and Orazio Di Blasi and Ivan Mastronardo and Alessandra Di Blasi and Concetta Busacca},
journal = {RSC advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6ra06791c},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13657091},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Self-standing banana-peel-derived hard carbon/CNF anodes for sodium-ion batteries with voltage-window-dependent electrochemical behaviour
AU - Mayank Joshi
AU - Emanuele La Mazza
AU - Orazio Di Blasi
AU - Ivan Mastronardo
AU - Alessandra Di Blasi
AU - Concetta Busacca
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
JO - RSC advances
DO - 10.1039/d6ra06791c
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13657091
AB - Sustainable and binder-free electrode architectures are attracting increasing interest for sodium-ion batteries, particularly when waste-derived active materials can be integrated into self-standing conductive networks. Herein, we report a freestanding hard-carbon/carbon-nanofibre anode obtained by incorporating banana-peel-derived hard carbon into an electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-derived carbon nanofibre (CNF) scaffold. The banana-peel precursor was converted into activated hard carbon through dual H3PO4/ZnCl2 treatment followed by carbonization, while electrospinning and thermal conversion enabled its integration into a flexible binder-free banana-peel-derived hard-carbon/carbon-nanofibre (B-HC/CNF) film. Structural, textural and surface analyses revealed a disordered turbostratic carbon phase with accessible micro/mesoporosity, defective sp2 domains and oxygen-containing surface functionalities. Compared with pristine CNF, the B-HC/CNF electrode delivered a higher reversible capacity in sodium half-cells, increasing from about 172 to 307 mAh g−1 in the 0.01–2.6 V window, together with an improved initial coulombic efficiency. Kinetic analysis based on cyclic voltammetry indicated a mixed sodium-storage behaviour involving both diffusion-controlled and capacitive contributions. The comparison between wide and narrow voltage windows highlighted the trade-off between capacity and reversibility: the 0.01–2.6 V range provided higher capacity but progressive fading, whereas the 0.01–0.5 V window promoted more stable cycling and coulombic efficiencies close to 100% after interfacial stabilization. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), galvanostatic intermittent titration technique (GITT) and post-cycling scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses showed that long-term degradation is mainly governed by interfacial resistance build-up, hindered Na+ transport and accumulation of electrolyte-derived surface deposits, rather than by collapse of the freestanding fibrous framework. These results demonstrate the potential of banana-peel-derived hard carbon/CNF electrodes as sustainable self-standing anodes for sodium-ion batteries, while identifying interfacial stabilization as a key target for further optimization.
SN - 2046-2069
ER -