Sustainable synthesis of spongy-like porous carbon for supercapacitive energy storage systems towards pollution control

In this study, the fruit of Terminalia chebula, commonly known as chebulic myrobalan, is used as the precursor for carbon for its application in supercapacitors. The Terminalia chebula biomass-derived sponge-like porous carbon (TC-SPC) is synthesized using a facile and economical method of pyrolysis. TC-SPC thus obtained is subjected to XRD, FESEM, TEM, HRTEM, XPS, Raman spectroscopy, ATR-FTIR, and nitrogen adsorption–desorption analyses for their structural and chemical composition. The examination revealed that TC-SPC has a crystalline nature and a mesoporous and microporous structure accompanied by a disordered carbon framework that is doped with heteroatoms such as nitrogen and sulfur. Electrochemical studies are performed on TC-SPC using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. TC-SPC contributed a maximum specific capacitance of 145 F g−1 obtained at 1 A g−1. The cyclic stability of TC-SPC is significant with 10,000 cycles, maintaining the capacitance retention value of 96%. The results demonstrated that by turning the fruit of Terminalia chebula into an opulent product, a supercapacitor, TC-SPC generated from biomass has proven to be a potential candidate for energy storage application. Graphical Abstract: (Figure presented.). © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024.