PEMBUATAN DAN KARAKTERISASI ELEKTRODA KARBON SUPERKAPASITOR DARI SERAT MAHKOTA (PHALERIA MACROCARPA) DEWA DENGAN PENAMBAHAN KARBON NANOTUBE

Abstract

Supercapacitors are renewable energy storage devices consisting of electrodes, electrolytes, current collectors and separators. Electrodes are one of the most important components in a supercapacitor because they are made of nanoscale materials that have a high surface area and porosity. This study used the crown of the Phaleria macrocarpa fiber with the addition of 5% and 10% carbon nanotubes with respective sample codes, namely SMD-00, SMD-05 and SMD-10. The manufacture of carbon electrodes was carried out by several processes, namely precarbonization process, chemical activation with KOH activator and addition of carbon nanotubes, carbonization process using N2 gas at 600ºC and physical activation using CO2 gas at 800ºC. The highest density shrinkage value is owned by the SMD-05 sample, which is 45.47%. The SMD carbon electrode contains functional groups O-H, C-H, C≡C, C=C and C-O and has a semicrystalline structure characterized by the presence of peaks (002) and (100) at angles of 24º-25º and 44º- 45º. The nanofiber structure with the highest number is owned by the SMD-05 sample with a carbon element percentage of 98.64%. Electrochemical analysis of supercapacitor cells using the Cylic Voltammetry and Galvanostatic Charge- Discharge methods with 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte resulted in the highest specific capacitance values belonging to the SMD-05 sample of 408 Fg-1 and 361.7 Fg-1 respectively. Based on the physical and electrochemical properties of SMD biomass-based supercapacitor cells, the addition of carbon nanotubes to the carbon matrix might improve the performance of supercapacitor cell electrodes.