Enhanced electrochemical performance of waste newspaper derived activated carbon aerogel electrode for the supercapacitor

This study demonstrates the development of an activated carbon aerogel (CA) from the waste newspaper through pyrolysis at 800 degrees C followed by KOH activation and carbonization or without carbonization namely: KOH treated dried carbon aerogel (CAD) and KOH treated carbonized carbon aerogel (CAK). SEM, EDS, XRD, TEM and XPS characterizations were carried out for the prepared electrode material. Prepared CA contains twisted fibrous orientation along with fluffy structure. XPS analysis confirms the existence of functional groups on the surface of the developed CA. XRD diffraction peaks debunk amorphous structure of the prepared electrode material. Electrochemical performances like cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanometric charging and discharging (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were carried out through three electrodes system employing 1M KOH electrolyte solution. CAD (KOH treated dried carbon aerogel) and CAK (KOH treated carbonized carbon aerogel) showed specific capacitance 76.946 and 475.164 F/g respectively at the employed current density 2 A/ g. Additionally, electrode material showed energy density 14.236 and 53.475 Wh /Kg for CAD and CAK respectively with the retention of 76.843 and 91.187 % of primary capacitance after 6000 cycles. This excellent electrochemical performance can be attributed to the presence of the enhanced surface area and surface porosities which enables its' higher charge density for energy storage. Hence, extraordinary electrochemical performances of the developed CAs confirm their application as advance electrode materials for the energy storage devices.