PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF Shorea robusta (SAAL) BARK BASED ACTIVATED CARBON AND STUDY OF ITS ELECTROCHEMICAL PERFORMANCE

Abstract

In this work, activated carbon (AC) was prepared in the laboratory using Shorea robusta (Saal) bark by charring with conc. sulphuric acid followed by phosphoric acid activation with different ratios of precursor to an activating agent at a different temperature on a fixed time. As-prepared activated carbon was characterized by methylene blue number (MBN) and Iodine number (IN) method. The methylene blue number was found to be 193.8802 mg/g whereas iodine number was found to be 2108.2 mg/g. AC-15 at 600 °C for 3 hours had the highest value of methylene blue number which indicated the presence of micropore as well as mesopore in the prepared material. The phase state of the sample was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique which indicates a predominantly amorphous nature of the prepared material. The surface functionality of the sample was examined by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) which showed the presence of O-H, aromatic C C, C-O, and aromatic compounds. Further electrochemical characterization of prepared materials AC-400 and AC-500 were carried out by cyclic voltammetry at a scan rate of 3 mV/s. Specific capacitance of the as-synthesized material was calculated from the measurement of absolute area of cyclic voltammetry curve. The specific capacitance recorded in this work is 76.67 Farad/g. This value shows that AC-500 could be used for electrical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) applications.