Facile fabrication of carbon aerogel by cellulose extracted from tea grounds and carboxymethyl cellulose for adsorption and energy storage applications

Carbon aerogel (CA) was synthesized from cellulose-extracted tea grounds with carboxymethyl cellulose as the crosslinking agent and facilitated by pyrolysis. The analytical results indicated a high porosity of more than 75% and ultra-low density of the CA. Besides, the material also possessed a corrugated surface with the presence of numerous pores due to the random distribution of carbon sheets. Additionally, the CA2 material corresponding to the precursor ratio of 1:10 was selected as the most appropriate sample with the highest ciprofloxacin adsorption capacity and energy storage performance of 60.47 mg/g and 155.20F/g, respectively.