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High electrochemical performance of hierarchical porous activated carbon derived from lightweight cork (Quercus suber)

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Abstract

Activated carbon (AC) derived from biomass lightweight cork (Quercus suber) material was synthesized by KOH activation with different mass ratios of Q. suber: KOH in order to investigate the electrochemical properties of the AC in relation to KOH concentration. A well-defined porous activated carbon was obtained with a high surface area of 1081 m2 g−1 and a high pore volume of 0.66 cm3 g−1 when the Q. suber: KOH mass ratio was fixed at 1:2. A specific capacitance of 166 F g−1 was obtained for the symmetric device at 0.5 A g−1 in 1 M Na2SO4 with energy and power densities of 18.6 and 449.4 W Kg−1, respectively. The device displays good cycling stability after floating test for 200 h at 1.8 V and also displays 99.8% capacitance retention after cycling for 5000 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance of the device makes it a potential material for supercapacitor application.

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Acknowledgements

This work is based on research supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa (Grant No. 61056). Any opinion, finding and conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the author(s) and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard. Faith O. Ochai-Ejeh acknowledges NRF through SARChI in Carbon Technology and Materials, and the Department of Physics at the University of Pretoria for financial support.

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  1. Department of Physics, Institute of Applied Materials, SARChi Chair in Carbon Technology and Materials, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa

    Faith O. Ochai-Ejeh, Abdulhakeem Bello, Julien Dangbegnon, Abubakar Abubakar Khaleed, Moshawe Jack Madito, Farshad Bazegar & Ncholu Manyala

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  1. Faith O. Ochai-Ejeh
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Correspondence to Ncholu Manyala.

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Ochai-Ejeh, F.O., Bello, A., Dangbegnon, J. et al. High electrochemical performance of hierarchical porous activated carbon derived from lightweight cork (Quercus suber). J Mater Sci 52, 10600–10613 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1205-4

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