High-performance supercapacitor electrodes based on alpaca manure-derived porous carbons

Alarcón-Arroyo M.I.; Coneo-Rodríguez R.; Arias-Pinedo O.M.; López E.O.; Palm R.; Araujo M.E.; Martins V.L.; Baena-Moncada A.M. · Electrochimica Acta (2026) · DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2025.147812

Resumen

The development of sustainable and low-cost electrode materials is essential for advancing energy storage technologies. This study reports the synthesis of activated carbons derived from alpaca manure through two H3PO4-based activation routes: (P) pre-carbonization at 400 °C followed by activation and (S) direct activation in a single step. The resulting carbons (CAP-X and CAS-X, X = 700–900 °C) were characterized by SEM, BET, FTIR, Raman, and XPS. The results revealed increasing the pyrolysis temperature enhanced pore development and structural disorder, leading to more accessible hierarchical micro–mesoporous networks, although with a lower degree of graphitization. Electrodes were prepared in paste form by mixing activated carbon, carbon black, and PTFE (80:10:10 wt %) and tested in Swagelok- and coin-cell configurations using 1 mol L-1 H2SO4. Among the evaluated materials, CAS-9 and CAP-9 samples exhibited comparable electrochemical performance. In coin-cell tests, CAS-9 reached 20.1 F g-1 with an energy density of 1.9 Wh kg-1 and a power density of 42.6 W kg⁻¹, retaining 98.9 % of its capacitance after 13000 cycles. The similar electrochemical behavior of CAS-9 and CAP-9 demonstrates that the one-step activation route (CAS) is more energy- and time-efficient while yielding carbons with properties suitable for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes derived from sustainable local biomass. Copyright

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería