Biomass Carbon Materials Derived from Starch and their Electrochemical Properties
Yawen Hu, Xin Li, Guoying Wang, Fenfang Luo, Kaiqiang Yi, Yves Iradukunda, Gaofeng Shi
Abstract
Porous carbon was prepared by using starch as a carbon source and ZnCl 2 as an activator. The physical and chemical properties of porous carbon materials were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Nitrogen adsorption/desorption, and XPS. Nitrogen adsorption/desorption tests show that ZnCl 2 has well pore expansion, with a maximum specific surface area of 1591.83 m 2 /g and a total pore volume of 0.89 cm 3 /g. Under the 1A/g current density, the specific capacitance is 249F/g. When the current density gains from 1A/g to 10 A/g, the capacitance retention reaches 72.29%. At the same time, it demonstrates high energy density (34.34 W·h/g) and power density (500W·K/g). The capacitance retention is 90.4% after 5000 cycles at 2 A/g current density. The results depict that the porous carbon is not only an ideal electrode material for supercapacitors but also a good carrier for the preparation of catalysts from mesoporous materials.