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Activated carbons obtained from rice husk exhibit low specific surface areas when physical activation is applied due to its high silica content. The purpose of this work was to improve textural parameters of powdered activated carbons obtained from rice husk. To avoid the negative influence of the raw material ash content, a leaching step was included in the preparation process. Hydrofluoric acid, in two concentrations (25 and 50 wt %), was used as leaching agent and applied in different stages of the process. Physical activation using water vapor as activating agent was applied. Specific surface area and porosity were evaluated from nitrogen adsorption data. When a leaching step was included, specific surface area values between 700 and 1200 m2/g were obtained. These values are higher than that corresponding to the activated carbon prepared from rice husk not treated with acid (290 m2/g). Pore size distribution depends on the step sequence of the preparation process and on the HF concentration.

An electrical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) is based on the physical adsorption/desorption of electrolyte ions onto the surface of electrodes. Due to its high surface area and other properties, such as electrochemical stability and high electrical conductivity, carbon materials are the most widely used materials for EDLC electrodes. In this work, we study an activated carbon felt obtained from sheep wool felt (ACF'f) as a supercapacitor electrode. The ACF'f was characterized by elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), textural analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical behaviour of the ACF'f was tested in a two-electrode Swagelok ®-type, using acidic and basic aqueous electrolytes. At low current densities, the maximum specific capacitance determined from the charge-discharge curves were 163 F•g −1 and 152 F•g −1 , in acidic and basic electrolytes, respectively. The capacitance retention at higher current densities was better in acidic electrolyte while, for both electrolytes, the voltammogram of the sample presents a typical capacitive behaviour, being in accordance with the electrochemical results.

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