The Interconnected Open-Channel Highly Porous Carbon Material Derived from Pineapple Leaf Fibers as a Sustainable Electrode Material for Electrochemical Energy Storage Devices

Abstract

The activated porous carbon anode material was successfully prepared from the agro-waste pineapple leaf fiber by using the simple hydrothermal technique and KOH chemical activation under heat treatment in Ar atmosphere. The obtained amorphous activated carbon with three-dimensional interconnected porous structure exhibited a high specific surface area of about 1520 m2/g. Furthermore, polyaniline (PANI) conductive polymer was grown on the porous carbon surface to promote its capacitance for the preliminary test as the anode for a lithium battery. The SEM characterization revealed the homogeneous longitudinal growth of polyaniline crystalline at the applied concentration of 0.03M aniline monomers on the surface of targeted porous carbon. The pineapple leaf fiber derived activated porous carbon could exhibit high capacity density as 320 mAh/g for the initial charge-discharge test and then substantially dropped to the reversible capacity of about 63 mAh/g at a current density of 0.5C. After composited with polyaniline, the porous carbon/polyaniline composite showed the superior initial capacity density of 425 mAh/g with the following improved reversible capacity by 27% relative to that of the bared porous carbon material. Moreover, the conducted porous carbon/polyaniline composite could also sustain higher cycle stability after 50 cycling tests.