Abstract
In this study, a facile synthesis of chemical and thermal activation of biomass tea-waste materials was explored. A tea-waste biosource carbon was explored by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method at 700 °C. The KOH-treated carbon (AC-KH) and H3PO4-treated carbon (AC-HP) were systematically studied for morphological characteristics and showed good morphological structures and a few transparent focused layered nanosheets. The elemental analysis done by scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirmed the presence of activated carbon. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) showed carbon-containing functional groups. The electrochemical analysis showed cyclic voltammetry (CV) curves for electric double layer capacitance (EDLC) with 3 M KOH electrolyte. The Nyquist plot obtained using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) showed charge transfer resistance value (Rct) of 6.08 Ω. The electrochemical galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) study was conducted to obtain the specific capacitance (Scp) values of AC-KH, which were found to be 131.95 F/g at 0.5 A/g and also AC-HP active material was observed 55.76 F/g at 1 A/g. The AC-KH showed superior electrochemical performance when compared to AC-HP material. Hence, AC-KH is a promising active material for high-energy supercapacitor applications.
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•Prepared AC-KH product exhibited good nanostructures.•AC-KH Product exhibited charge transfer resistance value Rct – 6.08 Ω.•AC-KH material exhibited 131.95 F/g specific capacitance (Scp) at 0.5 A/g.•AC-KH is a promising active material for high-energy supercapacitor.