Natural Biomass Derived Microporous Activated Carbon Electrodes for Highly Efficient Supercapacitor Applications

AbstractThe present work aims to synthesize microporous activated carbon nanostructure using natural biomass materials such as Bamboo, Sugarcane bagasse, and Orange peel precursors and to study its structural and morphological properties for energy storage applications. The carbonization temperature is maintained at 400 °C for all the precursors under a nitrogen atmosphere, and potassium hydroxide was used as the activating agent in the synthesis of activated carbon. These prepared samples were analysed by X‐ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy‐Elemental Dispersive Spectrum (SEM‐EDS), and Brunner Emmett Teller (BET) surface area analysis. The KOH activated carbon was found to possess micropores with a high surface area of 1273 m2 g−1 for the Bamboo derived Activated Carbon (BAC), which is much higher than that of Sugarcane Bagasse derived Activated Carbon (SBAC‐ 1069 m2 g−1) and Orange Peel derived Activated Carbon (OPAC‐ 915 m2 g−1). The porous structure of the activated carbon material when used as electrodes in a supercapacitor led to a highest specific capacitance of 492 Fg−1 at 2 mVs−1 for BAC whereas the SBAC (486 Fg−1) and OPAC (145 Fg−1) composites.