Hierarchically porous carbon derived from renewable Chingma Abutilon Seeds for high-energy supercapacitors

The cost-effectively biomass-derived porous carbon is highly promising for usage in electrochemical energy storage as the electrode materials. Herein, a series of hierarchically porous carbons with biomass Chingma Abutilon Seeds as the renewable precursor were synthesized via KOH activation and high-temperature carbonization technique. The resulting carbon material possessed an interconnected structure, high specific surface area (120-3566 m(2) g(-1)), hierarchical pores as well as the heteroatom-substituted functional groups. Based on the synergistic effect of the above-mentioned merits, the optimized material exhibited the remarkably electrochemical performance with high specific capacitance (389 F g(-1) at 0.5 A g(-1)) and excellent rate stability (72% capacitance retention at 20 A g(-1)) in the three-electrode configuration. More significantly, the symmetric two-electrode device assembled in 6 M KOH delivered a high energy density of 39.2 Wh kg(-1) and excellent chemical stability (90% capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles at 5 A g(-1)). Such prominent results might provide a new perspective on the value-added application of the renewable biomass resources in the electrochemical field. (C) 2021 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.