High-performance supercapacitors based on amorphous carbon derived from natural Ramulus mori

Abstract

Using biomass waste as a supercapacitor material has been one of the most widely used methods owing to its high performance, low cost and sustainable green economy. Herein, we employ Ramulus mori, a silkworm industry waste, by low-cost pyrolysis and chemical activation methods to produce high-efficiency, high-power and high-energy supercapacitors. The as-prepared architectures with a large number of hierarchical pores and high specific surface areas exhibit a high specific capacitance of ∼796 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹, and the retention rate can reach 93.6% even after 10 000 cycles at 10 A g⁻¹. The assembled symmetrical device has a high energy density of ∼59 W h kg⁻¹ at 1.2 kW kg⁻¹, which paves the way for the development of green electrode materials with promising applications.