Chemical activation of bamboo activated carbon (BAC) based on microwave-ultrasonic activation for supercapacitor application / Norakmalah Mohd Zawawi

Activated carbon (AC) has been explored as a raw material for supercapacitor due to its characteristic of having porosity and electrical conductivity, which could liberate a high power. From high surface area and pores size, it leads to a high specific capacitance values more than 70 F/g. High adsorption capacities of AC are determine by pore volume, porosity and surface area. Thus, this present study was focused on the chemical activation and microwave-ultrasonic (Mw-U) activation in order to enhance the properties of AC derived from bamboo. Bamboo has been choose as raw material because it is economical, easy to get and have high total pore volume distributed in the micropore range. BAC was activated using potassium hydroxide (KOH) with different Mw power intensity (100 W, 300 W, 500 W) at 30 minutes of retention time and 60 minutes of soaking time under ultrasonic. The carbonisation process was conducted at temperature 400°C, 600°C and 800°C. Bamboo physical and chemical properties gave a good impact to the BAC performance, which was consist a low of moisture content (0.4%) and high of carbon content (83.4%).