Iron salt assisted engineering of activated carbons for high performance aqueous zinc ion capacitors and supercapacitors
Chemical Engineering Journal, cilt.549, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 549
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.cej.2026.182767
- Dergi Adı: Chemical Engineering Journal
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, BIOSIS, Chemical Abstracts Core, Chimica, Compendex, INSPEC, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Engineering Source (EBSCO)
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Activated carbon, Catalytic graphitization, Energy storage, Microcrystalline cellulose, Zinc-ion capacitors
- Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
The rational regulation of carbon microstructure through iron salt-assisted carbonization provides an effective strategy for developing high-performance biomass-derived carbon electrodes. Herein, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was impregnated with FeCl3 or FeSO4 and pre‑carbonized at 400 or 800 °C, followed by KOH activation to investigate the influence of iron precursor chemistry on structural evolution and electrochemical performance. The results reveal two distinct carbonization pathways. FeCl3 promotes catalytic graphitization through iron-mediated carbon reconstruction, producing highly graphitized carbon with an interlayer spacing of 0.3362 nm and a graphitization degree of 90.7%. In contrast, FeSO4 suppresses graphitic ordering while facilitating the formation of a hierarchically porous architecture with an ultrahigh specific surface area of 2615 m2 g−1. Owing to the synergistic combination of abundant accessible pores and favorable surface chemistry, the S-MCC-800-AC electrode delivered superior electrochemical performance, achieving specific capacitances of 240.4 F g−1 in a symmetric supercapacitor and 622.6 F g−1 in an aqueous Zn-ion hybrid capacitor at 0.1 A g−1. Conversely, although FeCl3-derived carbon exhibited rapid charge-transfer kinetics due to its highly graphitized framework, excessive graphitization significantly reduced the accessible surface area and consequently limited charge-storage capability.