Activated Carbons from Orange Peel Waste as Supercapacitor Electrodes

Abstract

In this work, activated carbon was prepared from Indonesian local orange peel using ZnCl 2 activation method at various chemical ratio. Carbonization was done for 1 hour at 500 o C. The structural and morphological characteristics of orange peel based activated carbons were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM), Brunaeuer-Emmett-Teller surface analyzer. The highest surface area was found about 1200 m 2 /gr, obtained from the mass ratio of 1:2 (biomass : ZnCl 2 ). Electrochemical measurement was examined by half cells, using 1M LiPF 6 in EC/EMC/DMC solution (1:1:1 v/v) as electrolyte, and Li/Li + as reference electrode. It was shown from cyclic voltammetry (CV) results that activated carbon from orange peel demonstrated a stable electrochemical characteristics, with specific capacitance of 56 F/g at scan rate of 1mVs -1 at voltage window between 2,5 and 4 V.