Steam‐activated Carbon for Supercapacitors

As the industrial world developed, the world accomplished accelerated technological progress, boosting energy's importance. However, the production of energy in a cost-effective way is complex and challenging. In recent years, the deficiency of energy and negative environmental impacts became significant concerns of the scientific community, which started to think more about finding a progressive solution and clean energy storage and conversion mechanism. Supercapacitors received very much attention as they have a high capacity to fulfil the necessity of higher power density and more significant energy density. Biomass can be one of the most effective raw materials for their construction, with plentiful availability, biodegradability, and lower expense. The manufacture of porous carbons starts with biomass for its important qualities of better porosity, larger specific surface area, better graphitization rate, etc. This chapter is a compilation of the up-to-date development of biomass-based porous carbon materials for supercapacitors, mainly focusing on the steam-activated synthesis method. In addition, the construction and strategies for high-performing porous carbon materials from biomass are discussed in detail. The implementation of porous carbon obtained from biomass for advanced supercapacitors is surveyed. In the end, the challenges and anticipation for the upcoming advancement of biomass-based carbon materials are reported. This chapter illustrates the great potential of higher-ability porous carbon based on biomass and shows modeling for their application as high-performance supercapacitors, along with the enhancement of the new developments and future challenges, and supports the real implementation of steam-activated carbon materials for energy storage devices.