Corn husk biowaste-derived porous carbon as efficient electrode material for supercapacitor

Transforming biowaste into value-added porous carbon is highly significant in scientific and industrial point of view. The present research exploits corn husk biowaste as a source for producing high-quality interconnecting ordered porous carbons. Corn husk porous carbon (CHPC) is produced by employing a two-step carbonization and chemical activation process. Using structural and morphological characterisation tools, the effect of activation temperature on the characteristics of the resultant porous carbon is carefully examined. CHPC activated at 800 ℃ (CHPC-800) shows prominent feature like high specific surface area (~ 1583 m² g⁻¹) and interconnected ordered porous morphology (meso- and microporosity). Electrochemical investigations revealed that CHPC-800 could be able to deliver a maximum specific capacitance of 133 F g⁻¹ at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹ in symmetrical supercapacitor. Further, CHPC-800 also showed impressive electrochemical cycling stability (93.5% after 4500 cycles). CHPC-800 is benefited from both surge in surface area and ordered porosity resulting in better electrochemical properties. The findings suggest that porous carbon, which can be easily synthesised from abundantly available corn husk biowaste, could be a viable alternative for energy storage.