With the ever-increasing energy demands of the world and rapid depletion of natural resources, we must search for alternative, renewable energy sources. Supercapacitors offer a promising approach to replacing fossil fuels, allowing our society to distance itself from its dependence on non-renewable resources. Used tea leaves and molasses were utilized as a cheap and renewable carbon source for synthesis of phosphorus and nitrogen co-doped carbon (PNDC) materials using a novel microwave-assisted method. The PNDCs were synthesized by varying the ratio of tea/molasses and ammonium polyphosphate. Ammonium polyphosphate served as the phosphorous (P) and nitrogen (N) source as well as the microwave absorber. The materials were characterized both physically via Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analyses and electrochemically via cyclic voltammetry in both acidic (1 M H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>) and basic (6 M KOH) media. The PNDCs exhibited exceptionally high specific capacitance values. These PNDC materials were also found to be stable under continuous cycling in both acidic and alkaline conditions.

Supercapacitor application of phosphorus and nitrogen co-doped carbon materials from renewable precursor materials

255th National Meeting (2018)

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