Biomass-derived porous activated carbon for ultra-high performance supercapacitor applications and high flux removal of pollutants from water

The development of new carbon materials for high-energy-density supercapacitors and efficient filter membranes is still challenging. In this work, a novel biomass carbon material with large specific surface area and high oxygen content was fabricated for high-energy and environmental applications. The as-obtained carbon material exhibited high specific capacitance of 437 F g-1 at 1 A g-1 with superior capacitance retention of 90.9% after 100,000 cycles even at 100 A g-1 in H2SO4 electrolyte when tested in a three-electrode setup. The material also showed elevated specific capacitance in metal ion electrolyte, conducive to expanding its applications in aqueous metal ion supercapacitors. After assembly into a symmetric supercapacitor, the material showed an excellent energy density of 39.33 Wh kg-1 with outstanding capacitance retention of 125% after 100,000 GCD charge/ discharge cycles at 20 A g-1. A new membrane was also prepared using the fabricated carbon material for the removal of different pollutants, such as heavy metal ions, antibiotics, and dyes. The tests revealed the new carbon-based membrane to exhibit an ultra-high flux of 1200 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 toward different pollutants with substantial rejection of ciprofloxacin (93.1%). Overall, this work provided a new research paradigm for the multifunctional application and theoretical exploration of novel carbon-based materials.