Probe on hard carbon electrode derived from orange peel for energy storage application

Activated non-graphitizable hard carbon using orange peel with mesoporous structure has been prepared by pyrolyzation at 700, 800, 900 degrees C using chemical activation method. The activated orange peel-derived hard carbon has been characterized for its mesoporous and disordered structure. TG-DSC gives the information for the changes about sample composition and thermal stability of the materials. Increasing the carbonization temperature for orange peel precursor using NaOH as activating agent, elevates the pore diameter, which thereby facilitating the insertion of Na+. Raman and X-ray diffraction confirms the presence of disordered carbon. The surface morphology of the material was analyzed by scanning eletron microsope and nitrogen (N-2) adsorption and desorption analysis give the morphology, mesopore size (3.374, 3.39 and 4 nm) and surace area (60.164, 58.99 and 54.327 m(2)/g) of the orange peel-derived hard carbon. Hence, this work strongly evidences that the biomass-derived hard carbon with good porosity and paves way of superior electrochemical performance for emerging sodium ion batteries.