COMPOSITE ELECTRODES OF ACTIVATED CARBON DERIVED FROM CASSAVA PEEL AND CARBON NANOTUBES FOR SUPERCAPACITOR APPLICATIONS

Abstract

In this paper, composite electrode was prepared from a mixture of activated carbon derived from the pre-carbonization of cassava peel (CP) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The activated carbon was produced by pyrolysis process with ZnCl2 as activation agent. The result of N2 adsorption-desorption analysis indicated that the BET surface area of the activated carbon was 1336 m2 g-1. Difference percentage of CNT of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% and 5% of PVDF binder were added into CP based activated carbon to fabricate the composite electrodes. The morphology and structure of the prepared composite electrodes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The SEM observation revealed the CNT was distributed in homogeny between the carbon particles and XRD result shown the amorphous structure. The supercapacitor cells were fabricated by using composite materials as electrodes, 316L stainless steel as current collector and 1 M acid sulfuric as an electrolyte. Electrochemical characterization was performed by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) method using a solatron 1286 instrumentation. The addition of CNT has been improved the resistance and capacitive properties of supercapacitor cell.