Biomass Straw-Derived Porous Carbon Synthesized for Supercapacitor by Ball Milling

Abstract

A large amount of biomass straw waste is generated every year in the world, which can cause serious environmental pollution and resource waste if disposed of improperly. At present, biomass-derived porous carbon materials prepared from biomass waste as a carbon source have garnered attention due to their renewability, huge reserves, low cost, and environmental benevolence. In this work, high-performance carbon materials were prepared via a one-step carbonization-activation method and ball milling, with waste tobacco straw as precursor and nano-ZnO as template and activator. The specific surface area and porous structure of biomass-derived carbon could be controlled by carbonization temperature, which is closely related to the electrochemical performances of the carbon material. It was found that, when the carbonization temperature was 800 °C, the biochar possesses maximum specific surface area (1293.2 m2·g−1) and exhibits high capacitance of 220.7 F·g−1, at 1 A·g−1 current density in a three-electrode configuration with 6 M KOH aqueous solution. The capacitance retention maintained about 94.83% at 5 A·g−1 after 3000 cycles. This work proves the porous biochar derived from tobacco straws has a great potential prospect in the field of supercapacitors.