Synthesis and modification of corncob-based carbon as high performance negative material for supercapacitor

Abstract

Porous carbons derived from agricultural waste biomass are ideal active materials for eco-friendly and low-cost supercapacitors electrode materials. However, the challenge remains to further functional modification of biomass-based carbon to achieve high specific capacitance. Herein, PPD-modified porous carbon (MPC) was synthesized by KOH soaking coupled with facile carbonization method of natural corncob and covalently graft of p-phenylenediamine. The MPC exhibits a high specific capacitance of 393 F·g-1 at a scan rate of 5mV·s-1 in a three electrode system in a 1 M KOH aqueous electrolyte solution. MPC was expected to become promising active materials for high performance negative electrode materials.