H3PO4/KOH Activation Agent for High Performance Rice Husk Activated Carbon Electrode in Acidic Media Supercapacitors

H3PO4/KOH combined solution is proposed as a new effective activation agent for activated carbon production from rice husk. Several activated carbon samples were produced by using different volumes of the utilized acid and alkali individually, in addition to the combined solution. FTIR results indicated that the mixed agent partially decomposed the chemical compounds on the rice husk char surface, resulting in an increase in the surface area. Moreover, XRD and EDS analyses showed the presence of a considerable amount of amorphous silica. Electrochemical measurements concluded that the volume of the activation agent solution should be optimized for both single and mixed activation agents. Numerically, for 0.3 g treated rice husk char, the maximum specific capacitance was observed at 7, 10 and 14 mL of H3PO4, KOH (3 M) and mixed (1:1 by volume) activation agents, respectively; the determined specific capacitance values were 73.5, 124.2 and 241.3 F/g, respectively. A galvanostatic charging/discharging analysis showed an approximate symmetrical triangular shape with linear voltage versus time profile which indicates very good electrochemical performance as an electrode in the supercapacitors application. The stability of the proposed activated carbon was checked by performing a cyclic voltammetry measurement for 1000 cycles at 2 mV/s and for 30,000 cycles at 10 mV/s. The results indicate an excellent specific capacitance retention, as no losses were observed.

Automated summary

H3PO4/KOH combined solution is an effective activation agent for producing activated carbon from rice husk. The mixed agent decomposes chemical compounds on the rice husk char surface and increases the surface area. Both single and mixed activation agents need to have optimized solution volumes for maximum specific capacitance. The proposed activated carbon shows excellent electrochemical performance and stability.