Hard Carbon Production from Corncob and Oil-Palm Empty Fruit Bunch for Li-Ion Battery

Abstract

This paper presents activated hard carbon production from corncob and oil-palm empty fruit bunch for anode material in energy storage application. Char derived from biomass were produced by hydrothermal carbonization and carbonization process. The temperature of hydrothermal carbonization was 220 °C and a holding time of 2 h. The temperature of carbonization was 400 °C, the heating rate was 5 °C/min and the holding time was 3 h. The produced char was impregnated by KOH before applying an 800 °C chemical activation process. The results showed that the yield of the produced activated hard carbon (AC) was about 26.6-33.3%. The BET surface area, pore-volume, and average pore size were 943.2-1075.2 m2/g, 0.33-0.39 cm3/g, 1.68-1.75 nm, respectively. The charge-discharge capacities were 272.4-442.3 mAh/g. In sum, the produced AC showed good potential for the anode's battery application.