Activated Carbons from Orange Peel Waste as Supercapacitor Electrodes

In this work, activated carbon was prepared from Indonesian local orange peel using ZnCl2 activation method at various chemical ratio. Carbonization was done for 1 h at 500 degrees C. The structural and morphological characteristics of orange peel based activated carbons were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM), Brunaeuer-Emmett-Teller surface analyzer. The highest surface area was found about 1200 m(2)/gr, obtained from the mass ratio of 1:2 (biomass : ZnCl2). Electrochemical measurement was examined by half cells, using 1 M LiPF6 in EC/EMC/DMC solution (1:1:1 v/v) as electrolyte, and Li/Li+ as reference electrode. It was shown from cyclic voltammetry (CV) results that activated carbon from orange peel demonstrated a stable electrochemical characteristics, with specific capacitance of 56 F/g at scan rate of 1mVs(-1) at voltage window between 2.5 and 4 V.