Utilization of nutrient rich duckweed to create N, P Co-doped porous carbons for high performance supercapacitors

2019 
Abstract Fast-growing duckweeds are a potential source for useful biomass because of enrichment of N and P. Herein, we demonstrate a facile procedure for converting the duckweed biomass into N, P co-doped porous carbon material, a promising high-performance electrode material for use in supercapacitors. Under an optimum KOH activation temperature (750 °C), the carbonized duckweed sample with enriched N, P contents of 3.39 at.% and 0.25 at.%, respectively, exhibits a hierarchical mesoporous structure with a high specific surface area of ∼1636 m 2  g −1 . The duckweed electrode displays a specific capacitance of 315.2 F g −1 in the three-electrode electrochemical configuration at a current density of 1 A g −1 . In addition, the symmetric duckweed electrode offers a maximum capacitance of 225.0 F g −1 and energy density of 25.3 Wh kg −1 as well as a high stability (about 95% of capacitance retention after 10 000 cycles at 5 A g −1 ). This proof of concept provides a promising route for mitigating “biohazardous” duckweed blooms and for generating high-capacity, low-cost electrodes for supercapacitors as a “treasure” from environmentally friendly raw materials.
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