Electrochemical investigations on low cost KOH activated carbon derived from orange-peel and polyaniline for hybrid supercapacitors

This paper presents a comparative study of electrode materials for supercapacitors concerning biomass centered orange peel derived activated carbon (OPAC), and Polyaniline-OPAC nanocomposite. OPAC was synthesized via a chemical activation technique under the nitrogen atmosphere. The BET studies of OPAC show a promising candidate for supercapacitors applications, which provided a high surface area of 904 m2g? 1, an average volume of pores of 0.5543 cm3g? 1, and an average diameter of pores of 2.19 nm. XRD studies confirm the synthesis of OPAC and PANI-OPAC nanocomposite. The PANI-OPAC nanocomposite electrode exhibits a specific capacitance of 427 Fg? 1 however merely OPAC electrode exhibited 144 Fg? 1 at a scan rate of 2mVs? 1 by Cyclic Voltammetry in 1 M KOH electrolyte. OPAC electrode exhibited capacitance retention of 72% whereas the nanocomposite exhibited retention of 75% after 5000 cycles.