Performance studies of an electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) fabricated using edible oil-derived activated carbon

This work reports the synthesis of bio-carbonaceous electrode material, carbon soot (CS), by molecular growth of hydrocarbons in a simple chain reaction without any artificial environment. The activated CS (ACS) is derived by burning the mustard oil (wick-and-oil flame synthesis) followed by activation using ZnCl 2 . The ACS possesses more ordered layered structure with spherical morphology with higher carbon content as compared to the raw CS. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies reveal superior charge-transfer characteristics of the ACS electrodes. The galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD) studies reveal that the electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) utilizing the ACS electrodes delivers superior specific capacity of 50 F g −1 at 0.5 mA cm −2 than that of raw CS (28 F g −1 ). The EDLC fabricated using activated CS electrode shows excellent power density of 1620 W kg −1 and energy density 20.25 W h kg −1 .