The physical and electrochemical properties of activated carbon electrode made from Terminalia Catappa leaf (TCL) for supercapacitor cell application

In this study, the utilization of TCL as raw material in production of carbon supercapacitor electrodes are focused on variations in carbonization temperature. Carbonization temperatures were varied by 500 °C, 600 °C, 700 °C, and 800 °C marked with the code TCL500, TCL600, TCL700 and TCL800 corresponding to the selection of carbonization temperature. All samples were activated using CO₂ gas at 850 °C for 2 hours and 30 minutes. The density of the resulting carbon electrode was 0.776 gcm⁻³, 0.754 gcm⁻³, 0.738 gcm⁻³ and 0.762 gcm⁻³ for electrodes TCL500, TCL600, TCL700 and TCL800, respectively. The crystalline nature of the resulting carbon sample was found to be amorphous with 2θ 23.880°, 44.192° scattering angle, and stacking high (L_c) 8.482 Å for TCL700 samples. L_c data has been used to obtain a sample surface area and it was found as high as 1160.497 m²g⁻¹. The morphology of the electrode surface has been tested using a SEM instrument. The elements content of the electrode have also been analyzed based on the EDS data. The optimum specific capacitance of carbon electrodes from TCL is obtained at a carbonization temperature of 700 °C as high as 54 Fg⁻¹. (paper)