Sustainable Engineering of Biomass-Derived Activated Carbon Electrodes for High-Performance Supercapacitors

Study in Electrochemical Energy Storage and Waste Valorization

Abstract

The escalating demand for high-power energy storage necessitates a cross-disciplinary approach combining materials science and electrochemical engineering. This study details the synthesis and characterization of Activated Carbon (AC) derived from agricultural waste (specifically, Banana Leaf Waste, BLW) via a two-step chemical activation process using Potassium Hydroxide (KOH). The resulting porous carbon material was engineered into a two-electrode symmetric supercapacitor. Electrochemical performance was rigorously assessed using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Galvanostatic Charge-Discharge (GCD), and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). The AC-BLW electrode demonstrated a high specific capacitance of 154.0F g⁻¹ in a 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte (at 0.5A g⁻¹ ), a maximum energy density of 21.39Wh kg⁻¹ , and excellent cycling stability. This work successfully bridges chemical synthesis and electrical engineering principles, showcasing the potential for sustainable waste valorization in next-generation energy technologies (Taer et al., 2017; Apriwandi et al., 2020).