Green Synthesis of Carbon Aerogel from Rose Apple (Syzygium jambos) for Ciprofloxacin, Diesel Oil, Organic Solvents Adsorption, and Electrochemical Properties

Abstract

The ascribed work suggests a fabrication pathway of carbon aerogel material from the rose apple (Syzygium jambos) fruit (RACA), in which a hydrothermal step, followed by a calcination process under various temperatures from 600 to 900 °C was carried out. RACA were characterized via multiple methods to briefly determine the optimal calcination temperature for the application, revealing that the temperature of 700 °C provided an intermediate deconstruction effect to form the amorphous structure and amplified the surface area. Whence, the materials were assessed for the adsorption capacities towards diesel oil which provided a capacity of approximately 35 g/g, although the adsorption capacity decreased slightly after 5 cycles of recovery and reuse. Furthermore, RACA‐700 exhibits high adsorption capacity of organic solvents (toluene, cyclohexane, butanol, hexane, and chloroform) and the ciprofloxacin antibiotic. Besides, the utilization of the fabricated carbon aerogel in the supercapacitor was also investigated. The obtained results elucidate the highest specific capacitance of 61.20 F/g, corresponding with the lowest resistance of 195.6 Ω, which indicates the ability to maintain capacitance after 5000 cycles and still retain 60 % efficiency, thereby signifying the potential application of carbon aerogel in sustainable material construction.