Investigation of a Novel Defatted Spent Coffee Ground (DSCG)-supported Ni catalyst for Fuel Cell and Supercapacitor Applications

Abstract

With the increase in energy demand, a material that can be used in fuel cell applications has been developed for both energy storage and the use of alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. In this study, a new defatted spent coffee ground (DSCG)-based electrode material was synthesized for two different application areas. A new electrocatalyst synthesis was carried out by subjecting DSCG to chemical activation and carbonization processes. The glycerol electrooxidation performances of the catalysts synthesized at 10-50% Ni loading rates were investigated by CV measurements. 30% Ni-DSCG catalyst exhibited the highest catalytic activity with 3.290mA/cm2.As a result of the electrochemical measurements, 30% Ni-DSCG catalyst with the best catalytic performance was used as the supercapacitor electrode material. The electrochemical performances of the produced supercapacitor electrodes were tested at room temperature using galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD), Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques, and the capacity and stability of the electrodes were calculated as a result of the findings. In the calculations, the energy and power density of the 30% Ni-DSCG supercapacitor electrode were calculated as 22.897Whkg-1, 841.114Wkg-1, respectively. The supercapacitor electrode capacitance was found to be 50.48F/g.Its cyclic capacity was found to be 90%. It showed that the DSCG-based synthesized electrocatalyst could be a good option for energy storage technology as EDLC electrode material and fuel cell applications as anode catalyst due to its good conductivity, superior cyclic stability, environmental friendliness and low cost.