Effect of Aqueous Electrolyte to the Supercapacitor Electrode Performance Made from Sugar Palm Fronds Waste
Awitdrus Awitdrus, Decha Apriliany Suwandi, Agustino Agustino, Erman Taer, Rakhmawati Farma, Romi Fadli Syahputra
Abstract
Abstract The effect of aqueous electrolyte to the supercapacitor electrode performance made from Sugar palm ( Arenga pinnata ) fronds waste has been successfully analyzed. The preparation of the activated carbon was used a combination of chemical and physical activation methods. The chemical activation was conducted using potassium hydroxide with 0.5 M of concentration and the physical activation using CO 2 gas. The electrochemical performance of the sugar palm fronds (SPFs) electrode was tested using the cyclic voltammetry method with two-electrode configuration. The 1.0 M H 2 SO 4 , 6.0 M KOH, and 0.5 M Na 2 SO 4 were used as aqueous electrolytic solutions in this study. The specific capacitance of the SPFs electrodes obtained are 130 F/g for 1.0 M H 2 SO 4 electrolyte, 110 F/g for 6.0 M KOH electrolyte, and 79 F/g for 0.5 M Na 2 SO 4 , respectively. In addition, the physical properties of the SPFs electrode were also analyzed. The physical parameter of the SPFs electrode indicated a shrinkage after the physical activation processes. Based on the XRD pattern, the SPFs electrode has a semicrystalline structure. The characteristic peaks of the SPFs electrode for the pre-carbonization and after physical activation based on the FTIR spectra show slightly different.