Journal of Research in Applied Chemistry

Authors: Nethala Lalitha Kumari, Dandabattina Suneel Kumar, Duvvuri Suryakala

Abstract: Biomass-derived activated porous carbon materials are supreme supercapacitor electrode resources because of their low cost, eco-friendliness, and plentiful raw materials source. Here, anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is intercalated with rice straw sheets to avert the restacking and enhance the interlayer distance by the Coulomb force of interaction. A schematic analysis of the morphology and the electrical performances of these EDLC cells are conducted. The carbon material is analyzed through SEM, FTIR, BET and XRD and made up into electrodes to conduct constant current charge-discharge, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy investigations. The studies are conducted in 3.0 M KOH electrolyte. The specific capacitance is observed from charge-discharge experiments to be 139.03 F/g for activated porous nanomaterials prepared at 500ºC. Values obtained indicate an approach brazen in fabricating a green electrode for industrial applications. It is observed that the energy density of the cells is enhanced to 35.9 Wh/kg at 1 A/g, telling that the enlarged interlayer distance could increase the accessible surface area, and with better interlayer distance, the energy density and capacitance of the cells are enhanced. The presence of surfactants can improve the activated rice straw surfaces' wettability and activate its occurrence as a supercapacitor electrode.