Corrugated Paper-Based Activated Carbon as a Bifunctional Material for the Electrocatalytic Degradation and High-Performance Supercapacitors

In recent years, due to the development of biomass materials and their low cost, renewable and environmentally friendly characteristics, the use of electrochemical processes to treat wastewater is considered to be a very attractive solution. The use of discarded corrugated paper to prepare high value corrugated paper activated carbon (CPAC) cathodes degrades phenol in wastewater by electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs). The degradation efficiency in 120 min can reach 93.76%. CPAC can also be used in the field of supercapacitors. In a three-electrode system using 6 M KOH as the electrolyte, the specific capacitance is as high as 415.66 F g(-1) at the current density of 1 A g(-1). When the current density is 10 A g(-1), the specific capacitance can reach 310 F g(-1). Furthermore, after 5000 cycles of charging and discharging, the capacitance retention rate was 89.99%. It can be seen that CPAC is a dual-functional material suitable for both electrocatalytic degradation and supercapacitors. (c) 2019 The Electrochemical Society.