Casein-Derived Activated Carbon: Turning Expired Milk into Active Material for Electrochemical Capacitors

Abstract

The development of high-performing materials that, at the same time, can be synthesized from cheap precursors, such as biowaste, is of critical importance for the realization of advanced and sustainable electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs). Herein, reported for the first time, the use of casein extracted from expired milk for the realization of activated carbon (AC), suitable for EDLCs, is proposed. Utilizing this abundant and cheap precursor it is possible to obtain microporous AC that, in organic electrolytes (conventional and non), displays capacitance value comparable with those of commercially available ACs.