Comparison of the Effects of Melamine and Hexamine as the Nitrogen Sources on the Production of N-Doped Activated Biocarbon from Jatropha Oilcake for Supercapacitor Applications
摘要
N-doped activated biocarbons were produced from the hydrochar of agro industrial jatropha oilcake (JOC) employing KOH mediated chemical activation using hexamine and melamine as nitrogen sources. The effect of different nitrogen sources on the various physical and chemical properties of the N-doped activated biocarbons was investigated by CHNS, scanning electron microscope (SEM), BET specific surface area analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, and FTIR characterization. Both XRD and Raman analysis ensures the turbostratic structure of nitrogen doped pristine and activated biocarbon. The N-doped activated biocarbon produced at 700 °C using hexamine (NAC-H) and melamine (NAC-M) showed the specific surface area of 891.54 m2g− 1 and 969.79 m2g− 1 respectively. In addition, NAC-M biocarbon showed the superior nitrogen content of 4.60% comparing to NAC-H (3.56%). The superior specific surface area and nitrogen content of NAC-M biocarbon lead to exhibit the highest specific capacitance of 239.6 F.g− 1, where as NAC-H showed 169.9 F.g− 1 at 1 A.g− 1 using 1 M KOH as electrolyte. Further, NAC-M also exhibited good cycling stability along with the higher energy and power density (7. 0 W h kg− 1 and 2798.73 W kg− 1at 5 A.g− 1) compared to the other nitrogen doped pristine and activated biocarbon materials.