PREPARATION OF ACTIVATED CARBON MONOLITH ELECTRODES FROM SUGARCANE BAGASSE BY PHYSICAL AND PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL ACTIVATION PROCESS FOR SUPERCAPACITOR APPLICATION

Abstract

Binderless activated carbon monoliths (ACMs) for supercapacitor electrodes were prepared from sugarcane bagasse by two different methods of physical and combination of physical-chemical activation process. The CO2 gas was used as physical activation agent and 0.3 M KOH was chosen as chemical activation agent. The ACMs were tested as electrodes in twoelectrode systems of the coin tape cell supercapacitor that consists of stainless steel as current collectors and 1 M H2SO4 as an electrolyte. The improving of resistive, capacitive and energy properties of combination of physical-chemical ACMs electrodes were shown by an impedance spectroscopy, a cyclic voltammetry and a galvanostatic charge-discharge method. The improving of resistive, capacitive and energy properties as high as 1 to 0.6 Ω, 141 to 178 F g-1, 3.83 to 4.72 W h kg-1, respectively. The X-ray diffraction analysis and field emission scanning electron microscope were performed to characterize the crystallite and morphology characteristics. The results showed that the combination of physical-chemical activation process have given a good improving in performance of the bagasse based ACMs electrodes in supercapacitor application