Phyllanthus emblica Seed-Derived Hierarchically Porous Carbon Materials for High-Performance Supercapacitor Applications

Abstract

The electrical double-layer supercapacitance performance of the nanoporous carbons prepared from the Phyllanthus emblica (Amala) seed by chemical activation using the potassium hydroxide (KOH) activator is reported. KOH activation was carried out at different temperatures (700–1000 °C) under nitrogen gas atmosphere, and in a three-electrode cell set-up the electrochemical measurements were performed in an aqueous 1 M sulfuric acid (H2SO4) solution. Because of the hierarchical pore structures with well-defined micro- and mesopores, Phyllanthus emblica seed-derived carbon materials exhibit high specific surface areas in the range of 1360 to 1946 m2 g−1, and the total pore volumes range from 0.664 to 1.328 cm3 g−1. The sample with the best surface area performed admirably as the supercapacitor electrode-material, achieving a high specific capacitance of 272 F g−1 at 1 A g−1. Furthermore, it sustained 60% capacitance at a high current density of 50 A g−1, followed by a remarkably long cycle-life of 98% after 10,000 subsequent charging/discharging cycles, demonstrating the electrode’s excellent rate-capability. These results show that the Phyllanthus emblica seed would have significant possibilities as a sustainable carbon-source for the preparing high-surface-area activated-carbons desired in high-energy-storage supercapacitors.

Porous activated carbon materials from Triphala seed stones for high-performance supercapacitor applications

“…The quasirectangular profiles of all the samples exhibit the EDLC-type energy storage mechanism. The weak redox peaks at 0.2-0.4 V for MxC-Z400 CV curve indicate the partial contribution of pseudocapacitance to the EDLC because of presence of the oxygen functionalities in the carbon material [22]. The low value of total internal current of CV curve in MxP-500 sample is due to the lack of porosity.…”

“…As the carbonization temperature is raised from 400 to 700 C , the I G /I D ratio falls from 1.15 to 1.05, indicating an increase in graphitic carbon. Electrical conductivity, specific area, and pore size are all impacted by the degree of graphitic structure, which impact on increasing the performance of the supercapacitor electrode [22].…”

“…Triphala is well recognized polyherbal medicine comprises Harro (Terminalia Chebula), Barro (Terminalia bellirica), and Amala (Phyllanthus emblica) have found potentially effective in Ayurvedic medicine and even used for treating and preventing from cancer [20,21]. However, no research work observed on Triphala seed stones for the preparation of activated carbon but Phyllanthus emblica seed-derived hierarchically porous carbon materials for supercapacitor applications is recently reported [22]. Because of being the pillar of Ayurvedic medicine, biomass materials, low cost which are locally available in different regions of Nepal, there is particular interest towards the study of preparing a nanoporous carbon material from Triphala seed stones.…”

Controllable Preparation of Eucommia Wood-Derived Mesoporous Activated Carbon as Electrode Materials for Supercapacitors

“…On the contrary, in the field of EDLCs, carbon-based electrodes could demonstrate satisfactory stability and charge transfer rate, which is attributed to the accumulation of the pure electrostatic charge at the interface between the electrolyte and electrode. According to previous research, various kinds of carbon molecular structures have been obtained via artificial means, such as graphene [ 4 ], carbon nanotubes [ 5 ], carbon fiber [ 6 ], carbon aerogel [ 7 ] and activated carbon (AC) [ 8 ]. Among them, AC was more suitable to scientific research and commercial applications because of the high specific surface area, well-developed pore structures, simple preparation, low cost and durability.…”

Boron Carbide as an Electrode Material: Tailoring Particle Morphology to Control Capacitive Behaviour

“…Thus, good electrically conductive materials with a high surface area are desired to achieve high capacitance values of EDLCs. In this respect, carbon-based materials with varying morphologies, such as nanosheets, nanotubes, and fibers, have been comprehensively investigated for EDLCs [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. On the other hand, capacitance generation in pseudocapacitors are based on reversible Faradaic processes [ 18 ].…”