Heteroatoms (O, N)-doped porous carbon derived from bamboo shoots shells for high performance supercapacitors

Activated carbon derived from plant wastes is attractive for the fabrication of low cost and high performance electrochemical energy storage devices. The heteroatoms (O, N)-doped porous carbon (KAC-700) is fabricated from bamboo shoots shells via KOH activation. The symmetric supercapacitor based on KAC-700 has gravimetric and volumetric capacitance of 223.21 F g−1 and 167.63 F cm−3, respectively, at current density of 1 A g−1 in 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte. This supercapacitor also delivers a high energy density of 13.15 Wh kg−1 at power density of 546.60 W kg−1 in 1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte, as well as high capacitance retention rate of 93.62% after 4000 cycles at 5 A g−1. Compared with graphene, carbon nanotubes and other expensive carbon material, this activated carbon has a bright future due to its low cost and easy fabrication process as electrode material for supercapacitors.