Hierarchical porous carbon derived from acai seed biowaste for supercapacitor electrode materials

Creating energy storage devices from biomass waste has great scientific and industrial significance by providing an eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to reuse biowaste. This study demonstrates the production of high-performance supercapacitor electrodes using acai seed as a precursor for creating carbon materials. Porous carbons were synthesized by carbonization and subsequent KOH activation to generate microporosity then mesoporosity upon further activation. The materials displayed large specific surface areas and total pore volumes, with tunable pore structures depending on the degree of activation. The biomass-derived electrodes exhibited high specific capacitances of 346 F g−1 at 1 mA cm−2 and good electrochemical stability in which 88% of the initial capacitance was retained after 5000 charges/discharges cycles at 7 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH electrolyte. These results place these materials among the best biomass-derived supercapacitors reported thus far. This study provides a great alternative for the management of the large-scale biowaste, acai seed.