Biochar for Supercapacitor Electrodes: Mechanisms in Aqueous Electrolytes

Abstract

Utilizing biomass materials containing rich carbon-oxygen/nitrogen functional groups as precursors for synthesizing carbon materials was demonstrated as a promising strategy in energy storage and conversion applications. Porous biomass carbon materials have been widely used as the electric-double-layer capacitors in aqueous electrolytes. However, the detailed kinetic analysis and energy storage mechanisms are seldom discussed and clarified. In this work, starch powders were modified with tunable nitrogen/oxygen functional groups during the KOH activation process to produce porous carbon. The kinetics and energy storage mechanism of this kind of materials in acid and alkaline aqueous electrolyte were uncovered by in-situ ATR-IR in a three-electrode configuration.

Keywords: Biomass carbon, Electrode, supercapacitor, In-situ ATR-IR