Pyrolytic cyanobacteria derived activated carbon as high performance electrode in symmetric supercapacitor

• Demonstrate that cyanobacteria is promising precursor for supercapacitor electrodes.
• The activated carbon was obtained by chemical pyrolysis.
• The activated carbon had a large surface area of 2184 m2 g−1.
• The activated carbon exhibited a high specific capacitance of 271 F g−1 and excellent stability.

Cyanobacteria, as a renewable source of carbon, was used to prepare activated carbon electrodes in supercapacitors. The activation includes a pre-carbonization at 400 °C followed by KOH heat treatment at 800 °C, leading to efficient and high degree of graphitization. The activated carbon electrode consisted primarily of carbon and oxygen, and possessed a large specific surface area of 2184 m2 g−1, with pore size centered at 27 nm. In 6 mol L−1 KOH electrolyte, the electrode exhibited superior specific capacitance of 271 F g−1 and 222 F g−1 at a charge/discharge current density of 0.1 A g−1 and 5.0 A g−1, respectively. The results demonstrated that the activated carbon derived from cyanobacteria can serve as promising electrode material for electrical double-layer capacitors.

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