Activated carbon from coconut leaves for electrical double-layer capacitor

This study investigates the potential of coconut leaves as a precursor to obtain activated carbon. Coconut leaf-activated carbon (CLAC) has been prepared through gas activation process starting with carbonization at 400 A degrees C in nitrogen flow for 3 h. The carbonized coconut leaves were milled using planetary ball milling followed by activation with carbon dioxide (CO2) at different temperatures ranging from 700 to 1000 A degrees C. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) characterization reveals that the surface area of CLACs increases with the increase in activation temperature. Electrodes prepared from CLACs have been used to fabricate electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) in order to study the electrochemical behavior using galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements and cyclic voltammetry. The carbon activated at 900 A degrees C delivered the best specific capacitance of 133.4 F/g at current density of 200 mA/g.