Cleaner production of tamarind fruit shell into bio-mass derived porous 3D-activated carbon nanosheets by CVD technique for supercapacitor applications

This paper reported the successful preparation and characterization of bio-activated carbon nanosheets (ACNSs) synthesized from tamarind ( tamarind indicia ) fruits shells (TFSs) by employing Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) tubular furnace. The preparation of pure ACNSs and also potassium hydroxide (KOH) activated carbon nanosheets (K-ACNSs) were made through a pyrolysis process with Argon (Ar) gas as an inert gas at 800 °C for 2h 30min, followed by further purifications of K-ACNSs. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of ACNSs and K-ACNSs explored with and without pores respectively. The SEM micrographs also explored 3D-porous microstructure sheets with thickness around 18–65 nm. Raman spectroscopy explored crystallinity, SP 2 order and graphitization at 1577–1589 cm −1. The major functional groups were also observed. The photoluminescence (PL) was analyzed for K-ACNSs materials and revealed carbon emission broad peak value at 521.3 nm. As prepared ACNSs and K-ACNSs active materials was applied for three-electrode materials of energy storage supercapacitor analysis of cyclic voltammeter for −0.4 – 0.15 V at scan rates of 10–100 mV/s. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was performed with low Rct values of K-ACNSs as 0.65Ω when compared to pure ACNSs as 5.03Ω. Mainly, the galvanostatic charge-discharge test carried out in ACNSs and KCNSs materials was corresponded to 77 and 245.03 F/g respectively, with respect to 1 A/g current density. Finally, we promise that this reported novel tamarind bio-waste into conductive porous carbon nanosheets could develop future energy storage applications of biomass-derived carbons.