QUASI-SOLID-STATE SUPERCAPACITOR WITH ACTIVATED CARBON ELECTRODES AND H3PO4/ PVA GEL ELECTROLYTE


Coconut shells are excellent sources of activated carbon because of their highly porous structure, which gives a larger surface area. More ecologically friendly activated carbon can be produced via the physical activation process, and the physical activation approach is frequently regarded as being better than the chemical approach for deriving carbon from coconut shells. Here, coconut shell charcoal is carbonized and then heated to a high temperature to expose it to activating gases such as steam or carbon dioxide. Furthermore, compared to the chemical technique, which might introduce impurities via activating chemicals, the physical method typically yields cleaner and purer activated carbon. In the presented study, supercapacitor electrodes were prepared using activated carbon ink incorporated with 5% polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a binder, along with dimethylformamide (DMF) for the effective formation of electrodes. This activated carbon ink was coated on graphite sheets, which were used as capacitor current collectors via the drop-casting method. The Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/ H3PO4 gel electrolyte prepared using the hot press method exhibited the highest ionic conductivity of 46 mS cm-1 when 3.5 g, of H3PO4 was used with 10 ml of PVA. The specific capacitance of the corresponding assembled quasi-solid-state supercapacitor was 2.29 F g-1. Cyclic voltammetric (CV) curve shapes appreciably resembled the behavior of an electrical double-layer supercapacitor.