Production and Characterization of Activated Carbon from Baobab Fruit Shells by Chemical Activation Using ZnCl2, H3PO4 and KOH

Chemical agents have a good influence on the formation of activated carbons, surface characteristic, and its adsorption properties. In this study, the effect of activating agents (ZnCl2, KOH, and H3PO4) on baobab fruit shell (BFS) were evaluated. The characteristics of the baobab fruit shell based activated carbon (BF-ACs) were evaluated through the yield and iodine number. BF-ACs were also characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and nitrogen (N2) adsorption. SEM analysis illustrates those porous structures formed on the surface of BF-ACs were with different sizes. The XRD analysis show that the main structures of BF-ACs are amorphous. FT-IR data demonstrates the presence of different surface groups on the produced BF-ACs. Among activating agent, the KOH was observed to the most appropriate for the production of activated carbon with a large surface area (1029.44 m2/g) from baobab fruit shell.

Fabrication of supercapacitor electrode based on pepper peel activated carbon

Pepper peel waste is one of the byproducts of pepper production, especially in the Province of Bangka Belitung Islands. One of the efforts to utilize pepper peel, which is used as an activated carbon material that can be used as supercapacitor electrodes, has been carried out. Activated carbon based on pepper peel is synthesized by drying it to dry and then pre-carbonization. The next step is chemical activation using ZnCl2 and followed by physical activation at 700 °C in nitrogen flow conditions (N2) for 3 hours. Characterization of activated carbon material was carried out using SEM-EDX and BET, while the electrode performance used CV (Cyclic Voltamettry). The SEM-EDX and BET test results show that the activated carbon material has a porous structure with an average pore diameter of 2.059 nm. The CV test results were used to determine the energy storage capability with a specific capacitance value of 7.77 F/g at a scan rate of 1 mV/s.