Amorphous Carbon with a Graphitic Pattern Derived from Biomass for Supercapacitor Applications

Phan, HH; Phan, AN

doi:10.1007/978-981-99-0996-4_7

Amorphous Carbon with a Graphitic Pattern Derived from Biomass for Supercapacitor Applications

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Ha Phan, Professor Anh Phan

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Abstract

© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.The graphitic pattern of biomass-derived carbon is deemed to link with the electric conductivity of the carbon, but conventional heat treatment, even up to 3000 °C, is not suitable to convert biomass into highly ordered graphitic carbon. A number of studies on biomass derived carbons that underwent heat treatment exhibited that graphite carbon microcrystals formed during the heat treatment consisted of only a few graphene layers (3–4 layers), with the crystal heights being smaller than those of natural and synthetic graphite (20–300 nm). The interlayer distance between these layers is normally >10% higher than that of graphite (0.335–0.336 nm) due to the presence of impurities and heteroatoms, and these crystals are also distributed randomly in carbon without proper connections, so they cannot conduct electrons and result in poor electric conductivity and supercapacitor performances. However, combining chemical pre-treatment with transitional metal compounds (e.g., Fe(NO3)3, Ni(NO3)2) or alkaline and alkaline earth metal compounds (e.g., CaO, KOH) with heat treatments to generate graphitic carbons has been investigated. This chapter critically examines the graphitic structure and surface area/porosity of biomass derived carbons obtained from these chemical activation methods, the influence of operating conditions, and their applications in supercapacitors. Finally, current challenges and further perspectives on graphitic carbon from biomass used in supercapacitors are suggested.