Renewable Carbon Materials as Electrodes for High-Performance Supercapacitors: From Marine Biowaste to High Specific Surface Area Porous Biocarbons

Abstract

Waste, in particular, biowaste, can be a valuable source of novel carbon materials. Renewable carbon materials, such as biomass-derived carbons, have gained significant attention recently as potential electrode materials for various electrochemical devices, including batteries and supercapacitors. The importance of renewable carbon materials as electrodes can be attributed to their sustainability, low cost, high purity, high surface area, and tailored properties. Fish waste recovered from the fish processing industry can be used for energy applications and prioritizing the circular economy principles. Herein, a method is proposed to prepare a high surface area biocarbon from glycogen extracted from mussel cooking wastewater. The biocarbon materials were characterized using a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analyzer to determine the specific surface area and pore size and by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, Raman analysis, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The electrochemical characterization was performed using a three-electrode system, utilizing a choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvent (DES) as an eco-friendly and sustainable electrolyte. Optimal time and temperature allowed the preparation of glycogen-based carbon materials, with a specific surface area of 1526 m2 g–1, a pore volume of 0.38 cm3 g–1, and an associated specific capacitance of 657 F g–1 at a current density of 1 A g–1, at 30 °C. The optimal material was scaled up to a two-electrode supercapacitor using a DES-based solid-state electrolyte (SSE@DES). This prototype delivered a maximum capacitance of 703 F g–1 at a 1 A g–1 of current density, showing 75% capacitance retention over 1000 cycles, delivering the highest energy density of 0.335 W h kg–1 and power density of 1341 W kg–1. Marine waste can be a sustainable source for producing nanoporous carbon materials to be incorporated as electrode materials in energy storage devices.

Porous Carbon Materials Based on Blue Shark Waste for Application in High-Performance Energy Storage Devices

“…Additionally, the pores can provide additional surface area for charge storage, and facilitate the diffusion of ions into and out of the electrode. Even though, to the best of our knowledge, there are no reports in the literature about the use of organic materials extracted from blue shark discards (gelatine and chondroitin sulfate) for the preparation of carbon electrodes for application in energy storage devices, several marine waste precursors have been used for this application, such as glycogen [11], crab shells [13], fish scales [14][15][16], prawn shells [17], fish bones [18], and squid pens [12]. These studies present higher specific surface areas, pores, and specific capacitances than the present results.…”

“…High-specific-area materials have a greater surface area per unit mass, allowing them to store and discharge more charge more effectively than low-specific-area materials. Brandão et al [11,12,19] showed that the higher the specific capacitance, the larger the surface area of carbons. An increased surface area can accommodate more electrolyte ions, leading to a more significant amount of stored charge.…”

Unlocking Potential: Temperature-Driven Morphology and Electrolyte Influence on Chemical Free Pine Apple Peel-Derived Amorphous Carbon for Enhanced Electrochemical Performance

“…There is no significant buildup of surface films or other changes that could increase the resistance. It also suggests that the material's intrinsic electrical conductivity appears to be durable, maintaining its performance despite prolonged use at high current density, and lastly, it indicates that the contact resistance between the current collector and the active material, as well as any connections within the cell, have not degraded, which could have led to an increase in ESR [45][46][47].…”

Production and Partial Characterization of Bioactive Compounds from Underutilized Marine Bioresources for a Cosmetic Formulation: Cytotoxicity and Bioactivity Evaluation

“…The following ingredients, hydrolyzed collagen (34 kDa), glycogen (2551 kDa), and hyaluronic acid (51 kDa and 1500 kDa, respectively), were obtained, as indicated in [11,12,43,44], and refrigerated (−20 • C) until use for experiments and the preparation of the cosmetic formulation. Briefly, hydrolyzed collagen was obtained by first treating Prionace glauca skins with 10 volumes of 0.1 M NaOH and stirring in a cold room (4 • C) for 24 h. The liquid was discarded and the NaOH-treated skins washed until neutral pH.…”

“…The obtained acid-soluble collagen was hydrolyzed in a controlled pH-Stat system (Metrohm, Herisau, Switzerland) using papain (Merck, KGAA, Darmstadt, Germany) (E/S: 1/20) for 30 min at 65 • C in a water bath and ultra-filtrated using 30 kDa and 10 kDa Mw cut-off Amicon Ultra Device membranes to achieve the desired molecular weight. Glycogen was isolated from industrial mussel cooking wastewaters after its concentration by ultrafiltration membrane with 100 kDa cut-off (spiral polyethersulfone, 0.56 m 2 , Prep/Scale-TFF, Millipore Corporation, USA), followed by protein precipitation by isoelectric point (pH 4.5) with 5 M HCl, a selective polysaccharide separation using alcoholic precipitation, and finally, an oven-drying step [43]. Hyaluronic acid was produced by fermentation of Streptoccocus zooepidemicus bacterium in low-cost nutritive medium, including tuna viscera peptone [12].…”