Novel strategy for efficient conversion of biomass into N-doped graphitized carbon nanosheets as high-performance electrode material for supercapacitor

• Published in: The Journal of physics and chemistry of solids 2023-10, Vol.181, p.111509, Article 111509
• Main Authors: Wang, Baoli, Jiao, Rongting, Shi, Fan, Li, Guangjiu, Zhou, Juan, Huang, Yuhao, Sun, Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomass; Fish scales; Graphitized carbon nanosheet; Supercapacitor
• ISSN: 0022-3697; 1879-2553
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpcs.2023.111509

The transformation of low-cost, renewable and eco-friendly biomass into energy conversion or storage materials with high energy density is one of the effective means to alleviate the energy crisis. In this study, a scalable route was proposed to synthesize porous, hetero-atom doped graphitized carbon nanosheets from the biomass-fish scales, and the as-prepared material was further used to construct a high-performance electrode for supercapacitor application. The synthesized N-doped graphitized carbon nanosheets (GNC-900) exhibit an average scale of 1–2 μm in size and hierarchical porous structure with a specific surface area of 1261.5 m2 g−1. The results of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge show that GNC-900 owns the quasi-electric double layer capacitance behavior in 6.0 M KOH electrolyte due to the presence of heteroatoms, and it exhibits a distinguished specific capacitance value of 448 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 in three-electrode cell. The CV curves at different scan rates reveal that this electrode has superior reversible stability and rapid response. Meanwhile, it delivers a high energy density of 57.7 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 999 W kg−1 in a two-electrode system. This novel and low-cost strategy provides an effective route to transform fish scales into highly valuable electrode materials in energy storage fields. A novel strategy to controllable synthesis N-doped graphitized carbon nanosheets as high-performance electrode materials for supercapacitor. [Display omitted] •N-doped graphitized carbon nanosheets were synthesized.•The liquefied derivant of fish scales was employed as carbon source.•High-performance for supercapacitor electrode has been achieved.•The reasons for the high-performance of the material were discussed.