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Sono‐exfoliated graphene‐like activated carbon from hazelnut shells for flexible supercapacitors
Author(s) -
Reddygunta Kiran Kumar Reddy,
Callander Andrew,
Šiller Lidija,
Faulds Karen,
Berlouis Leonard,
Ivaturi Aruna
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.8314
Subject(s) - supercapacitor , graphene , materials science , electrolyte , carbon fibers , activated carbon , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , capacitance , energy storage , carbonization , electrochemistry , specific surface area , environmentally friendly , hydrothermal carbonization , anode , exfoliation joint , electrode , composite material , chemistry , composite number , organic chemistry , scanning electron microscope , adsorption , catalysis , engineering , ecology , biology , power (physics) , quantum mechanics , physics
Summary Currently, more than 80% of commercial supercapacitors utilize chemically synthesized carbon nanomaterials which are expensive and necessitates non‐renewable resources. Employing renewable, environment friendly and naturally available biomass feedstock as precursor for producing carbon materials is a low‐cost and sustainable way for designing the electrodes of supercapacitors. In the present study, high surface area hierarchical porous multilayered graphene‐like carbon is obtained via room temperature sono‐exfoliation of the activated carbon synthesized via simple and environmentally friendly hydrothermal carbonization and potassium bicarbonate activation of waste hazelnut shells as the precursor. The high surface area graphene‐like carbon showed excellent electrochemical performance with specific capacitance of 320.9 F g −1 at 0.2 A g −1 current density and exceptional capacitance retention of 77.8% at 2 A g −1 current density after 10 000 cycles in 1 M Na 2 SO 4 electrolyte. Moreover, flexible supercapacitors fabricated using sono‐exfoliated graphene‐like activated carbon coated stainless steel mesh electrodes and biopolymer gel electrolyte exhibits an outstanding energy density of 38.7 W h kg −1 and power density of 198.4 W kg −1 . These results show that mechanically exfoliated graphene‐like activated carbon derived from hazelnut shells exhibit superior electrochemical performance that can compete with other activated carbon materials used in energy storage devices for real time applications.