E-waste Derived Enhanced Activated Carbon for Supercapacitor Applications

Abstract

Increase in the usage of electronic appliance and gadgets leads to more e-waste for example printed circuit boards which have a huge impact in the environment that makes toxic. This study gives an idea about how to make an e-waste as a raw material and it is converted into activated carbon using the activation process which reduces the wastage. It is used as an electrode for supercapacitors which suits for energy storage application and it is a cost-effective method. Using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy techniques and Raman spectroscopy, the electrochemical behaviours were studied. By cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques, the capacitance behaviour of activated carbon which is obtained by e-waste were calculated. Different scan rate values were performed and the corresponding specific capacitance values were obtained. In that, at the scan rate of 10 mV s −1 , the obtained specific capacitance value was found to be 308 Fg −1 . Good specific capacitance values were obtained for activated carbon which indicates that activated carbon is a suitable material for the supercapacitor fabrication.