Roslinda Zulkifli, Mohamad Deraman, Rusli Daik, Maria Muhammad Ishak, Najah Syahirah Mohd Nor, Mohamad Redwani Mohd Jasni, Sepideh Soltaninejad, and Mohd Suleman . Electrochemical Characterization of Supercapacitor Electrodes Prepared by Activation of Green Monoliths Consist of Self-Adhesive Carbon Grains and Lignin. Materials Science Forum, 846, 545-550

Abstract: Self-adhesive carbon grains (SACGs) and lignin were produced from fibres of oil palm empty fruit bunches by a low carbonization temperature and chemical treatment methods, respectively. Green monoliths (GMs) were prepared from the KOH-treated SACGs mixed with the organosolv-treated lignin with their weight percentages of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%, respectively. The GMs were carbonized and activated into highly porous activated carbon monoliths (ACMs) electrodes to fabricate supercapacitor cells. The cell performance was investigated using galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) technique. The results demonstrate that 5 wt.% of lignin is the optimum quantity that should be added to SACGs and this corresponds to the higher values of the specific capacitance (137 Fg-1), specific energy (4.13 Whkg-1), specific power (192 Wkg-1), and a satisfactory value of equivalent series resistance (0.467 Ω) of the supercapacitor.

Keywords: Self-adhesive carbon grains, Activated carbon monoliths, Lignin, Supercapacitor electrode.