Bagasse-basedNanoporous Carbon for Supercapacitor Application

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1077.2010.10376

Abstract

Abstract: A kind of nanoporous carbon has been successfully prepared fromsugarcane bagasse through a facile microwave-induced ZnCl₂activation and tested as electrode material in ionic liquid supercapacitor. Theas-prepared nanoporous carbons are systematically characterized by a variety ofmeans such as N₂ adsorption, SEM (scanning electron microscope) andTEM (transmission electron microscope). Characterization results reveal thatthe pore size of nanoporous carbons can be tuned from 2.5 nm to 7 nm by simplyadjusting the concentration of ZnCl₂ solution from 20 wt% to 60 wt%. The nanoporous carbonsare tested as electrode materials in ionic liquid using different electrochemicalmeans such as cyclic voltammetry, constant current charge-discharge andelectrochemical impedance spectroscopy. As evidenced by electrochemicalmeasurements, the capacitive performances of the carbons are closely related totheir pore sizes. It has beendemonstrated that large pore size benefits the good capacitive performance ofnanoporous carbon in ionic liquid electrolyte.

Key words: biomass, nanoporous carbon, N₂ adsorption, supercapacitor, energy density

SI Wei-Jiang, WU Xiao-Zhong, XING Wei, ZHOU Jin, ZHUO Shu-Ping. Bagasse-basedNanoporous Carbon for Supercapacitor Application[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2011, 26(1): 107-113.

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