Natural Peach Gum as Porous Carbon Precursor and Gel Electrolyte for High-Performance Zinc-Ion Hybrid Supercapacitors

Enabling green manufacturing processes for energy storage devices is a significant aspect of achieving sustainable development. Herein, peach gum (PG) which is a kind of natural, renewable, and abundant biomass, is chosen to fabricate zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZHSCs). PG is used as the carbon source to prepare porous carbon materials by simultaneous carbonization and activation process. The effects of potassium hydroxide concentration and carbonization temperature on the as-prepared carbon materials are investigated. The porous carbon prepared under the optimal conditions has a large specific surface area of 1587 m(2) g(-1), and the ZHSC constructed by this porous carbon and Zn foil exhibits a high specific capacity of 338.3 mAh g(-1) at 0.2 A g(-1) in 2 m ZnSO4. Furthermore, PG is used to prepare PG/ZnSO4 gel electrolyte to assemble the quasisolid-state ZHSC, and the maximum specific capacity, energy density, and power density of the device can reach 169.2 mAh g(-1), 152.3 Wh kg(-1), and 9000 W kg(-1), respectively. Besides, the device also exhibits good cycling stability with a capacity retention of 90.1% after 15 000 cycles. This strategy provides a simple and effective way for the application of PG to fabricate green energy storage devices with high performance.

Automated summary

Peach gum is used as a carbon source to fabricate porous carbon materials for zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors. The resulting carbon has a large specific surface area and high specific capacity, and the device exhibits good cycling stability. This strategy provides a simple and effective way for the green fabrication of energy storage devices.