Biowaste-originated heteroatom-doped porous carbonaceous material for electrochemical energy storage application

Here, a unique heteroatom-doped spongy carbonaceous material from dwarf banana peel has been synthesized successfully using the one-step hydrothermal method. The discarded banana peel was reused as a carbon source for the formation of heteroatom-doped porous carbon. This biowaste-derived heteroatom-doped porous carbonaceous material (BH-PCM) has plenty of interconnected pores with an acceptable surface area of 213 m(2) g(-1). Thoroughly characterized BH-PCM has been used as electrode material for supercapacitor using a three-electrode system with an aqueous 1 M H2SO4 solution. The as-synthesized BH-PCM holds an excellent specific capacitance of 137 F g(-1) at 0.5 A g(-1) and an impressive rate performance with a capacitance enduring 51 F g(-1) at 5.0 A g(-1). After 10,000 galvanostatic charge-discharge cycles, an initial capacitance of 94% was maintained. To show the practical applicability of the BH-PCM, the symmetrical two-electrode cell was fabricated and delivered the gravimetric specific capacitances of 87 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1). The excellent electrochemical performance of BH-PCM towards supercapacitor was due to their high surface area, reasonable heteroatom doping rate, and a suitable degree of graphitization. This study offers a green approach for the development of environmental-friendly potential carbon-based electrode, by converting biowaste to clean/green energy. (c) 2021 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.