Tuning the electrochemical capacitance of carbon nanosheets by optimizing its thickness through controlling the carbon precursor in salt-template

Herein, two-dimensional (2D) carbon nanosheets derived from biomass precursor is successfully synthesized via a cost-effective salt-templated process. Microstructural characterization and Raman spectral analysis of the sample derived from the salt template method reveals the formation of carbon nanosheets. The nanosheet thickness and its capacitance have been altered by varying the carbon precursor to salt-template ratio. From the AFM data, the thickness of the as-prepared thin carbon sheet was measured as similar to 5.16 nm, and the other thicker carbon sheet thickness was determined to be between 24 and 38 nm. The Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) analysis shows that the thinner nanosheets possess a high specific surface area (SSA) of 485 m(2) g(-1), with slit-pore geometry having a total pore volume of 0.29 cm(3) g(-1). Hence, compared to thicker carbon nanosheets (63.6 F g(-1)), the thinner carbon nanosheets exhibit superior electrochemical capacitance of 146 F g(-1) in an aqueous 6 M KOH electrolyte, without employing any chemical activation. The electrochemical series resistance of as-prepared carbon nanosheet samples was found to be < 1 Omega with charge transfer resistances in the range of 0.29 Omega (thicker sheets) to 0.18 omega (thinner sheets). The specific capacitance and electrochemical properties vary significantly when the nanosheet thickness has been tuned from thicker to thinner by altering the starch ratio in NaCl. The two-electrode cell assembled using thinner carbon nanosheets exhibited the capacitance of 70.1 F g(-1) with energy and power densities as 9.7 Wh kg(-1) and 20 kW kg(-1) respectively.

Automated summary

In this study, two-dimensional carbon nanosheets derived from biomass precursor were successfully synthesized through a cost-effective salt-templated process. The thickness and capacitance of the nanosheets were altered by adjusting the carbon precursor to salt-template ratio. Thinner carbon nanosheets exhibited superior electrochemical properties and capacitance compared to thicker ones, without the need for chemical activation.