Bacterial nanocellulose: Green polymer materials for high performance energy storage applications

Nowadays, the use of clean and renewable energy sources including storage technologies to protect the environment become an important need and, hence become a priority for the research community. Hence, energy storage technologies are in the process of incorporating ecofriendly and low-cost electrode/electrolyte materials, with superior electrochemical characteristics such as bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), biomaterial waste etc. Among the environmentally friendly materials, the distinctive interconnected network of the BNC structure attracts a wide variety of applications. Its physical and chemical properties such as superior water holding capacity, higher specific surface area, excellent chemical stability, and better mechanical strength including eco friendliness, make it a potential candidate for energy storage applications. The three-dimensionality of networked BNC in a conductive matrix can achieve superior electrochemical performance due to effective ion extraction capabilities, needed for faster charging and discharging of the energy storage devices. In this review, recent studies on the application of BNC for energy storage systems such as Li-ion batteries, ultracapacitors, Li-S batteries and other batteries are highlighted. Specifically, cellulose and nanocellulose and their classifications are presented here for the first time. Finally, the views on the future improvement in BNC in the area of energy storage applications are presented.