Activated of Waste Palm-Oil Based on Chemical-Assisted Microwave Radition for Supercapacitor Materials

Abstract The most widely used material as a supercapacitor electrode is activated carbon that could be produced by the biomass materials such as waste palm oil. This research promoted a hybrid method with chemical assisted microwave radiation (CAMR) to produce an activated carbon from the empty fruit bunches of palm oil (EFBP). This study aims to determine the effect of chemical activation (CA) with ZnCl2 and microwave heating radiation (MR) which applied as a supercapacitor electrode material. The results of activated carbon are tested using various tests to determine the quality of activated carbon as a supercapacitor electrode material. The results of electrode material testing showed the same carbon content in both types of activation, which was 47,4%. The results showed that there were peaks of O-H, C = C, C-H, and C-O produced in both activations. The microstructure of both activations indicates that amorphous material is formed. The CAMR method has improved an electrical conductivity of EFBP up to 3.676 x 10− 3 S / m compared with EFBP-CA of 1.082 x 10− 3 S /m. Also, the pore size increased up to 72.1 nm of EFBP-CAMR. Finally, the EFBP-CAMR was demonstrated as an active material of supercapacitor with binder free coating by electrostatic spray coating method that achieved capacity up to 32.042 F/g.