Preparation and electrochemical properties of algae-based super activated carbon based on “egg-box” structure

Abstract

Different with terrestrial plants, algae contains alginic acid and alginate, and the alginate mainly exists in cell walls in the form of calcium alginate and magnesium alginate. Six kinds of algae, sargassum, enteromorpha, asparagus, undaria, kelp and ulva, were used as raw materials, carbon products from algae carbonization were pickled with hydrochloric acid to remove Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions,etc. from alginate and form "egg-box" initial pore structure. Then the algae-based super activated carbon was prepared by KOH activation method, the effect of pickling pretreatment on the pore structure and electrochemical properties of algae-based activated carbon was studied. The results show that the hydrochloric acid pretreatment can not only increase the specific surface area, but also improve the number of mesoporous of the algae-based activated carbons. The electrochemical performance of algae-based activated carbons is improved after hydrochloric acid pretreatment.

Keywords

• algae
• activated carbon
• supercapacitor
• electrochemical performance
• acid pretreatment