Abstract
In this work, comparative studies on the activated carbons (ACs), derived from of Sabal palmetto and Pterospermum acerifolium trees, are presented for electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) application. The objective of this work is to obtain ACs from a novel biomass using a cost-effective synthesis approach. In this work, we have used Sabal palmetto and Pterospermum acerifolium leaves (dead leaves) as precursors for ACs for the first time. Both dead leaves and fresh precursors are available in huge amounts. In order to reduce the production cost, no specific gaseous environment is used during any synthesis step. The obtained ACs are found to show respectably high surface area and porosity. The respective ACs were synthesized in a cost-effective way via carbonization of the leaves followed by chemical activation with ZnCl2 and thermal activation at ambient conditions. The structural and morphological studies were done using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) techniques. The electrochemical performance of the ACs, as electrodes in EDLC, was studied by using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The Sabal palmetto (SP) and Pterospermum acerifolium (PA) based nanostructured ACs display high specific surface area of 971 m2 g−1 and 1151 m2 g−1 and crystallite size of ~ 47.45 nm and ~ 67.83 nm respectively. The Sabal palmetto–derived AC possesses higher value of mesopore/micropore volume ratio (Vmeso/Vmicro) as ~ 0.89 than that of derived from Pterospermum acerifolium (Vmeso/Vmicro ~ 0.64). The EDLC fabricated using Sabal palmetto–derived AC delivers specific capacitance of 90.98 F g−1, which is about twice of Pterospermum acerifolium–derived activated carbon. The EDLC utilizing the Sabal palmetto–derived AC demonstrates superior capacity retention of 98.7% after 10,000 charge–discharge cycles.
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The authors acknowledge the Department of Physics & Material Research Laboratory, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea, for technical support.
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The authors Komal and Vivek Kumar Shukla conceptualized and developed the experiments. Komal, Ranbir Singh, Yogesh Kumar, Vinayak G. Parale, and Kuldeep Mishra carried out the experiments and data analysis. Komal and Vivek Kumar Shukla prepared the manuscript. The manuscript has been approved by all the authors.
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Komal, Singh, R., Parale, V.G. et al. Studies on the ZnCl2 activated carbons derived from Sabal palmetto and Pterospermum acerifolium leaves for EDLC application. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 14, 9995–10009 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03088-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03088-7