Biomass Carbon Materials Derived from Starch and their Electrochemical Properties

Abstract

Porous carbon was prepared by using starch as a carbon source and ZnCl2 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 ZnCl2 has well pore expansion, with a maximum specific surface area of 1591.83 m2/g and a total pore volume of 0.89 cm3/g. Under the 1 A/g current density, the specific capacitance is 249F/g. When the current density gains from 1 A/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.