Nanoarchitectonics of Zanthoxylum armatum DC. Seed Derived Zinc Chloride Activated Carbon as Negatrode Material for Supercapacitor Applications

Abstract

Abstract The storage of green and renewable forms of energy from clean sources has gained considerable attention in the academic as well as industrial arena in the context of ongoing terrible global climatic change. Commonly used carbon nanomaterials are inadequate to address the demand for high-performance energy storage devices due to their high cost, processing difficulties and chances of toxicity. Consequently, facile bio-mass-derived activated carbon is getting more attention due to its high carbon content, more abundant in nature and easiness of processing with minimum toxicity. Here, in this study, we introduced a simple, sustainable approach for the synthesis of ZnCl2 activated hierarchical 3D network mesoporous/microporous Zanthoxylum armatum DC. carbon materials from its precarbonized seed powder at 600, 800 and 1000 °C, respectively. Physicochemical characterization of as-prepared materials was assessed by well-known standard techniques, and energy storage ability was studied in a three-electrode configuration. The electrochemical performance of different sample of zinc chloride activated carbon (ZAC-1000, ZAC-800 and ZAC-600) were compared. ZAC-1000 electrode exhibited the best gravimetric capacitance of 133 F g-1 in 1 A g-1 with 97.9 % cyclic stability at 10,000 cycles and ~50% rate capability. Based on the findings, highly efficient negative electrode (Negatrode) materials for supercapacitor applications synthesized from the bio-waste seed of Zanthoxylum armatum DC. could be useful for commercial applications.