Investigation on the Potential of Various Biomass Waste for the Synthesis of Carbon Material for Energy Storage Application

The metal-air battery (MAB) has been a promising technology to store energy, with its outstanding energy density, as well as safety features. Yet, the current material used as air cathode is costly and not easily available. This study investigated a few biomass wastes with good potential, including the oil palm empty fruit bunch and garlic peel, as well as the oil palm frond, to determine a sufficiently environmentally-safe, yet efficient, precursor to produce carbon material as an electro-catalyst for MAB. The precursors were carbonized at different temperatures (450, 600, and 700 degrees C) and time (30, 45, and 60 min) followed by chemical (KOH) activation to synthesize the carbon material. The synthesized materials were subsequently studied through chemical, as well as physical characterization. It was found that PF presented superior tunability that can improve electrical conductivity, due to its ability to produce amorphous carbon particles with a smaller size, consisting of hierarchical porous structure, along with a higher specific surface area of up to 777.62 m(2)g(-1), when carbonized at 600 degrees C for 60 min. This paper identified that PF has the potential as a sustainable and cost-efficient alternative to carbon nanotube (CNT) as an electro-catalyst for energy storage application, such as MAB.

Automated summary

This study explores several potential biomass wastes as precursors for the air cathode material in metal-air batteries. Carbon materials were synthesized through carbonization and activation processes. The results show that oil palm fronds carbonized at 600 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes presented superior electrical conductivity and specific surface area, making them a promising alternative to carbon nanotubes as an electro-catalyst for energy storage applications.