Waste jean derived self N-containing activated carbon as a potential electrode material for supercapacitors

The rapid rise of the world population increases the annual amount of waste textile products. Textile products create a significant amount of CO2, water, and chemical footprints during production. Therefore, the reusability of textile products has an important environmental and economic impact. Waste denim was used in this study to produce activated carbon (AC) samples as the alternative substance for supercapacitor electrodes. Characterisation studies showed that AC samples contain nitrogen originating from the elastane in the denim structure. Electrochemical characterisation tests proved the pseudocapacitive behaviour of the denim-derived AC due to the nitrogen content. Specific capacitance values observed for the three-electrode and two-electrode cell configurations were 95.93 F/g and 54.64 F/g at 1 A/g, respectively. Good capacitive retention (83.01%) of the cell after 3000 galvanostatic charge-discharge cycles at 1 A/g shows that waste denim can be considered as raw material for energy storage systems.

Automated summary

The rapid increase in the world population has led to a rise in the amount of waste textile products. These products have a significant environmental impact, as they generate a large amount of CO2, water, and chemicals during production. This study explored the reusability of waste denim to produce activated carbon samples for supercapacitor electrodes. The results showed that the denim-derived activated carbon exhibited pseudocapacitive behavior due to the nitrogen content, and demonstrated good capacitive retention after multiple charge-discharge cycles. This suggests that waste denim can be a viable raw material for energy storage systems.