Sustainable photo-supercapacitors using biomass waste as source of carbon for electrodes
Nilanka Monarawila Keppetipola a, G.R.A Kumara b, Kirthi Tennakone b, Marie-Anne Dourges a, Céline Olivier a, Thierry Toupance a, Ludmila Cojocaru a
a Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, ISM, UMR 5255, 351 Cours de la Libération, F-33405 Talence, Cédex
b National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Hantana Road, 20000 Kandy, Sri Lanka
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV22)
València, Spain, 2022 May 19th - 25th
Organizers: Pablo Docampo, Eva Unger and Elizabeth Gibson
Oral, Nilanka Monarawila Keppetipola, presentation 091
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.hopv.2022.091
Publication date: 20th April 2022

Solar cells are considered as one of the most potential clean energy technologies, which can fulfill the global energy demand. However, solar intermittency limits solar energy harvesting over time which can be overcome by efficient energy transfer and storage. The integrated device with the dual functionality of energy conversion and storage, named photo-storage devices has received increasing attention since stored energy can be used to supply continuous energy regardless the solar intermittency [1]. Supercapacitors exhibit suitable properties to be integrated with solar cells due to the charging abilities under instantaneous input power changes of solar cells by keeping high volumetric energy densities in thin device structure. On the other hand, perovskite solar cells show the ability of sharing carbon electrode with supercapacitor which act as counter-electrode and/or hole transport layer. Furthermore, the use of biomass waste as source of carbon is a very promising sustainable alternative to the traditional fossil fuels deposits. In this work, the activated carbon was synthesized to fabricate electrodes for supercapacitor through an environmentally friendly steam activation approach using easily accessible coconut shells waste as raw material [2]. The activation process was carried out for carbonized coconut shell particles through water and steam as activating agents. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy studies confirmed the graphite type carbons with higher disordered nature for those prepared by steam activation. Among the different activated carbon samples prepared, the one synthesized by steam activation showed high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, i.e. 1998 m2 g-1, and total pore volume, i.e. 1.09 cm3 g-1. These remarkable textural properties led to outstanding storage properties in supercapacitors based on this activated carbon sample in combination with ionic liquid (1-methyl-1-propyl-pyrrolidinium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide) as electrolyte (specific energy of 92.1 W h kg−1 add power density of 2046.9 W kg−1), able to work in large range of potential (up to 3.5 V) [2]. The direct connection of carbon-supercapacitor with carbon-perovskite solar cell was possible. Interestingly, the dual functional device (photo-storage) was able to maintain its high overall peak efficiencies of 5.63 and 4.07 % at high areal discharging currents of 18 and 30 mA cm-2. To the best of our knowledge, this is so far the best reported results regarding the holding high efficiencies at high discharge current that evidences the potential of our PSCs/supercapacitor system to be used for high power electronic applications. 

This work is funded by the National Research Agency under the “Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir” (ANR-19-MPGA-0006), and supported by ELORPrintTec ANR-10- EQPX-28-01.

© FUNDACIO DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA SCITO
We use our own and third party cookies for analysing and measuring usage of our website to improve our services. If you continue browsing, we consider accepting its use. You can check our Cookies Policy in which you will also find how to configure your web browser for the use of cookies. More info