Preparation of Hierarchical Porous Activated Carbon from Banana Leaves for High‐performance Supercapacitor: Effect of Type of Electrolytes on Performance

Abstract

We demonstrate a facile efficient way to fabricate activated carbon nanosheets (ACNSs) consisting of hierarchical porous carbon materials. Simply heating banana leaves with K₂ CO₃ produce ACNSs having a unique combination of macro-, meso- and micropores with a high specific surface area of ∼1459 m² g^-1 . The effects of different electrolytes on the electrochemical supercapacitor performance and stability of the ACNSs are tested using a two-electrode system. The specific capacitance (C_sp ) values are 55, 114, and 190 F g^-1 in aqueous 0.5 M sodium sulfate, organic 1 M tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile, and pure ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([BMIM][PF₆ ]) electrolytes, respectively. The ACNSs also shows the largest potential window of 3.0 V, the highest specific energy (59 Wh kg^-1 ) and specific power (750 W kg^-1 ) in [BMIM][PF₆ ]. A mini-prototype device is prepared to demonstrate the practicality of the ACNSs.