Washnut Seed-Derived Ultrahigh Surface Area Nanoporous Carbons as High Rate Performance Electrode Material for Supercapacitors

Abstract

Hierarchical porous carbon materials with high surface area and large porosity derived from biomass are desired for the sustainable development of low-cost electrode materials for advanced energy storage devices. Here, we report the electrochemical supercapacitance performance of washnut seed-derived nanoporous carbon materials in aqueous electrolyte (1 M H2SO4) on a three-electrode system. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) activation of the pre-carbonized Washnut seed powder at high temperatures (800–1000 °C) under nitrogen atmosphere yielded nanoporous carbons with hierarchical micro- and mesoporous structure with well-developed porosity. The surface areas and pore volumes are found in the range of 2005 to 2185 m2 g−1 and 1.370 to 2.002 cm3 g−1, respectively. The as-prepared materials showed outstanding electrochemical energy storage performance achieving a high specific capacitance of 288.7 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 followed by a high rate capability sustaining 67.2% capacitance even at a high current density of 50 A g−1 with only a small capacity loss (<2%) after 10,000 charging/discharging cycles. This work demonstrates novel insights into low-cost high-performance carbon materials design using natural biomass for the sustainable development of electrode materials for advanced supercapacitor applications.

Radiation Synthesis of Green Nanoarchitectonics of Guar Gum-Pectin/Polyacrylamide/Zinc Oxide Superabsorbent Hydrogel for Sustainable Agriculture

“…In this regard, efforts are directed to employ different biopolymers in industrial, agricultural and biomedical applications [3]. Moreover, different biomass finds great importance in many novel applications such as electrode material for super capacitors [4], capacitive deionization perfromance [5], electromangetic wave absorber [6] and as electrocatalyst [7].…”

High-Performance Supercapacitor Materials Based on Hierarchically Porous Carbons Derived from Artocarpus heterophyllus Seed

“…Many nanoporous carbon materials have been prepared including the well-known activated carbons, carbon aerogels, ordered mesoporous carbons, metal carbides, and molecular nanocarbon materials such as zero-dimensional fullerenes and one-dimensional and two-dimensional carbon nanotubes. − Nanoporous activated carbons are very widely used commercial materials. , Most are prepared from agro-wastes or natural biomass (whose major component is lignocellulose) which can be converted to nonporous biochar by pyrolysis at moderate temperature under air or a nitrogen atmosphere, then further converted to high surface area nanoporous activated carbons by physical or chemical activation methods. , Activated carbons have been prepared from different biomass, including rice husk, corncob, washnut seed, Lapsi (Choerospondias axillaris) seed, pitch, coconut shell, cow dung, bamboo, rice straw, wood, and so forth using different activation methods. − Physical activation methods can be used to produce materials with low specific surface areas (500–1000 m 2 g –1 ) not suitable for industrial energy storage applications. , In contrast, chemical activation results in porous carbons with very high surface areas (1000–2500 m 2 g –1 ) comparable with commercially available carbon materials. , Chemical activation methods include the impregnation of precursor materials (agro-waste, biomass, or biochar) with an activating agent followed by their carbonization at higher temperatures generally from 400 to 1000 °C under nitrogen or argon atmospheres. , The mixing ratio of the chemical agent, carbon precursor, and the temperature are the most important parameters in the control of porosity and specific surface area of the resulting carbon materials. The chemical nature of the activating agent also determines the surface area and porosity.…”

Nanoarchitectonics for Hierarchical Fullerene Nanomaterials

“…During the last three decades, researchers have given enormous efforts to finding suitable mesoporous materials for charge storage applications [ 145 , 146 , 147 ]. Carbon-based materials with mesoporous architectures are supposed to be the best materials for such charge storage properties [ 148 , 149 , 150 ]. However, unwanted surface functionality and poor electrochemical conductivity of such carbon materials have to be addressed to improve their performance.…”