Nano Porous Carbon Material with Redox Additive Electrolytes for the Development of Hybrid Supercapacitor

Abstract

The increasing energy crisis with hi-tech development is a matter of concern that has attracted researchers in the past few decades. Conventionally fossil fuels are being used to generate or supply energy, but now, a variety of renewable energy sources are available and their low-cost production at a large scale and their safe storage are the key challenges. In view of these key challenges, the proposed research work is carried out on the fabrication and characterization of one of the energy storage devices, the supercapacitor (SC). newlineTwo types of biomasses (eucalyptus leaves and mango kernel) are converted into activated carbon (AC) for the electrode material. The chemical activation strategy adopted to synthesize this AC is quite simple, economic, and is acceptable for larger-scale production. These electrode materials are characterized by various techniques, like XRD, RAMAN, FTIR, SEM, and BET. After analyzing the obtained data from the respective techniques, it is concluded that the synthesized AC exhibited all the virtues that a material can be used as an electrode for the supercapacitor. newlineMoreover, electrochemical testing of the synthesized materials is performed on different types of electrolytes such as; H2SO4, H3PO4, Na2SO4, and CH3COOH. This testing is performed by using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Charge Discharge (CD), and life cycle test. The outcomes were based on the double layer mechanism of SC. The outcomes indicate the quite good specific power and life cycle of those SC cells. However, achieving the high specific energy performance in SC has always been difficult and found as a considerable issue with this electrolytic system. The proposed research work adopts an effective, simple, and low-cost approach. Some redox species are added to these pristine electrolyte systems to fulfill the purpose.