Human hair-derived carbon flakes for electrochemical supercapacitors

Abstract

Heteroatom doped porous carbon flakes were prepared via carbonization of Chinese human hair fibers and employed for high-performance supercapacitor electrode materials. The morphology and chemical composition of the resultant carbon materials were characterized by electron microscopy (EM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. Human hair carbonized at 800 °C exhibited high charge storage capacity with a specific capacitance of 340 F g⁻¹ in 6 M KOH at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹ and good stability over 20 000 cycles. The specific capacitance of 126 F g⁻¹ is also verified in a 1 M LiPF₆ ethylene carbonate/diethyl carbonate (EC/DEC) organic electrolyte at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹. The high supercapacitor performance could be due to the micro/mesoporosity combined with high effective surface area and heteroatom doping effects, combining double layer and Faradaic contributions.