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Activated carbon from coconut leaves for electrical double-layer capacitor

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Abstract

This study investigates the potential of coconut leaves as a precursor to obtain activated carbon. Coconut leaf-activated carbon (CLAC) has been prepared through gas activation process starting with carbonization at 400 °C in nitrogen flow for 3 h. The carbonized coconut leaves were milled using planetary ball milling followed by activation with carbon dioxide (CO2) at different temperatures ranging from 700 to 1000 °C. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) characterization reveals that the surface area of CLACs increases with the increase in activation temperature. Electrodes prepared from CLACs have been used to fabricate electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) in order to study the electrochemical behavior using galvanostatic charge–discharge measurements and cyclic voltammetry. The carbon activated at 900 °C delivered the best specific capacitance of 133.4 F/g at current density of 200 mA/g.

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Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge AMREC, SIRIM Berhad for providing access to research facilities where all experiments and measurements in this work were carried out.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Materials Section, Advanced Materials Research Centre (AMREC), SIRIM Berhad, Lot 34, Jalan Hi-Tech 2/3, Kulim Hi-Tech Park, 09000, Kulim, Kedah, Malaysia

    K. S. Sulaiman & A. Mat

  2. Center for Ionics University of Malaya, Physics Department, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    K. S. Sulaiman, A. Mat & A. K. Arof

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  1. K. S. Sulaiman
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  2. A. Mat
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  3. A. K. Arof
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Correspondence to A. K. Arof.

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Sulaiman, K.S., Mat, A. & Arof, A.K. Activated carbon from coconut leaves for electrical double-layer capacitor. Ionics 22, 911–918 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-015-1594-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-015-1594-9

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