Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12)
A high capacity carbon prepared from sweet sorghum stalk for supercapacitor applications Gorata Pearl Morake 1 , Sebusi Odisitse 1 and Cecil K. King’ondu 1 Botswana International University of Science and Technology (Department of Chemical and Forensic Sciences, Palapye, Botswana) Corresponding Author: Cecil K. King’ondu Email address: kingonduc@biust.ac.bw This study investigates the preparation of a high-capacity carbon material derived from sweet sorghum stalks for use in supercapacitor applications. Sweet sorghum stalks, an abundant and renewable biomass, were utilized as a precursor to produce activated carbon through a combination of chemical activation with Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) and subsequent thermal treatment. The obtained carbon material has a high surface area, microporosity, and very good electrochemical properties, including high specific capacitance, good rate capability, and long cycle life. The supercapacitor performance was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The material showed a specific capacitance of 121.36 F/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g with nearly 100 % capacitance retention after 10 000 cycles. These findings indicate that sweet sorghum stalks can be a useful sustainable source for preparing high value carbon materials for supercapacitors and other energy storage devices and thus can be considered as environmentally friendly and cost effective substitute for conventional materials. Key words: Activated carbon, Sweet sorghum, Supercapacitor, Specific Capacitance, Surface area References 1. Z. Li, J. Wang, S. Liu, X. Liu and S. Yang, “Synthesis of hydrothuermally reduced graphene/MnO2 composites and their electrochemical properties as supercapacitors,” Journal of Power Sources , vol. 196, no. 19, pp. 8160-8165, 2011. 2. J. Park, Y.-E. Yoo, L. Mai and W. Kim, “Rational Design of a Redox-Active Nonaqueous Electrolyte for a High-Energy-Density Supercapacitor Based on Carbon Nanotubes,” Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering , vol. 7, no. 8, p. 7728–7735, 2019. 3. M. S. Lal, A. Arjunan, V. Balasubramanian and R. Sundara, “Redox-active polymer hydrogel electrolyte in biowaste-derived microporous carbon-based high capacitance and energy density ultracapacitors,” Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry , vol. 870, p. 114236, 2020
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