Comparative study of meso-carbon micro-beads and activated carbon derived from Bagasse waste as anode materials

Bagasse waste is a prospective raw material for activated carbon due to its high cellulose content. This research aims to utilize bagasse waste as raw material for activated carbon preparation and study its characteristics compared to a commercial meso-carbon micro-beads (MCMB) as anode materials. The activated carbon derived from bagasse was prepared through carbonization at 600 °C for 30 min under N2 flow and then followed by activation under steam flow at 700 °C for 1 h. The produced-carbon is an amorphous-black powder confirmed by a broad diffraction peak at 28 of 25 °. FTIR analysis reveals some vibration peaks of C=C, C-H, and C-O, as typical peaks of activated carbon. SEM-EDX analysis shows an irregular surface morphology, with C content of 77.29 %. Surface area analysis found that the prepared-carbon has surface area of 592.36 m²/g, meanwhile, the MCMB has 10.85 m²/g. The prepared-carbon also provides higher electrical conductivity than the MCMB, which are 3.91 × 10−1 S.cm−1 for the prepared-carbon, and 3.50 × 10−1 S.cm−1 for the MCMB. It indicates a great potency for the prepared-carbon to be comparable with MCMB as anode material for battery.