title: The well-designed hierarchical structure of Musa basjoo for supercapacitors.
abstract: Application of biological structure is one of the hottest topics in the field of science and technology. The unimaginable and excellent architectures of living beings supporting their vital activities have attracted the interests of worldwide researchers. An intriguing example is Musa basjoo which belongs to the herb, while appears like a tree. The profound mystery of structure and potential application of Musa basjoo have not been probed. Here we show the finding of the hierarchical structure of Musa basjoo and the outstanding electrochemical performance of the super-capacitors fabricated through the simple carbonization of Musa basjoo followed by KOH activation. Musa basjoo has three layers of structure: nanometer-level, micrometer-level and millimeter-level. The nanometer-level structure constructs the micrometer-level structure, while the micrometer-level structure constructs the millimeter-level structure. Based on this hierarchical structure, Musa basjoo reduces the unnecessary weight and therefore supports its huge body. The super-capacitors derived from Musa basjoo display a high specific capacitance and a good cycling stability. This enlightening work opens a window for the applications of the natural structure and we hope that more and more people could pay attention to the bio-inspired materials.
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers (Beijing University of Chemical Technology), Ministry of Education, Beijing 100029, China.
authors: Kaiwen
authors: K
authors: Zheng
authors: State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
authors: Xiaorong
authors: X
authors: Fan
authors: College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors: Yingzhu
authors: Y
authors: Mao
authors: College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors: Jingkai
authors: J
authors: Lin
authors: Joint Research Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Department of Electronic Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors: Wenxuan
authors: W
authors: Dai
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers (Beijing University of Chemical Technology), Ministry of Education, Beijing 100029, China.
authors: Junying
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers (Beijing University of Chemical Technology), Ministry of Education, Beijing 100029, China.
authors: Jue
authors: J
authors: Cheng
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D025802:Electric Capacitance; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D028521:Musa / Q000737:chemistry*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016062:Porosity
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon