Waste plastics derived graphene nanosheets for supercapacitor application

Abstract

Given the non-biodegradable nature of plastic, its recycling and upcycling are critical to ensure effective waste management and resource conservation, with a cradle-to-cradle approach. Herewith, we report a low-effort and nature-friendly upcycling route for plastic waste to manufacture large quantities of graphene nanosheets (GNs) via a two-stage pyrolysis process. To analyze the utility of GNs synthesized by this process, their supercapacitive behavior was studied over different current collectors such as copper tape (CuT), indium tin oxide glass (ITO), graphite sheet (GS), and aluminum sheet (AlS) in PVA-H3PO4 gel electrolyte. Our findings confirm that the AlS current collector displayed superiority and demonstrated the highest specific capacitance of 38.78 F/g with the plastic waste GNs. Thus, the present study shows a cost-effective and sustainable option for propelling a circular economy through waste plastic upcycling with energy storage applications.