Corn Husk-Derived Activated Carbon as High-Performance Anode Constituent for Rechargeable Aqueous Zn/α-MnO2 Batteries

Zinc (Zn) aqueous batteries have gained significant research interest for large-scale electrochemical energy storage applications due to their rich abundance of raw materials, high energy density, environmental friendliness, low capital, and maintenance expenditure. However, the progress of metallic Zn anode in the aqueous Zn battery chemistry is hindered by several critical challenges, including low Coulombic efficiency and the formation of Zn dendrites, irrespective of the pH of the electrolyte. Herein, the application of porous activated carbon (AC) derived from waste corn husk as Zn anode constituent to improve the cyclability of the aqueous Zn battery is reported. In the full cell study, it is observed that the battery containing 15 wt% of AC as anode coupled with alpha-MnO2 nanorods cathode shows excellent capacity retention of 86.42% (initial discharge capacity = 211.67 mAh g(-1)) after 125 charge/discharge cycles at current rate of 100 mA g(-1). Moreover, herein, insights into converting waste to energy by utilizing the biowaste precursor to develop stable and durable rechargeable aqueous Zn-based batteries are provided.