Abstract

Supercapacitors are widely used in high-power-density applications due to their ability to deliver rapid energy bursts and fast recharging. The incorporation of naturally derived materials into supercapacitor electrodes offers notable advantages in terms of sustainability, environmental impact, and biodegradability relative to their synthetic counterparts. In this study, activated carbon with high electronic conductivity is combined with pyrolyzed sucrose as a binder to fabricate thin-film electrodes, with 2.50 mol dm−3 H2SO4 serving as the electrolyte. Both constituent materials are characterized with respect to their structural and electrical properties. The optimized electrodes exhibit a sheet resistance of 171.24 Ω sq−1 and a resistivity of 1.92 × 10−4 Ω cm. The assembled electric double-layer capacitor achieves a specific capacitance of 74.35 F g−1 at an activated carbon-to-sucrose ratio of 1:2, following sintering at 350 °C for 20 min. Cyclic voltammetry reveals capacitive-to-diffusive current contributions of 93:7% at 200 mV s−1 and 67:33% at 5 mV s−1, with a specific capacitance retention of 77% after 1000 cycles. Collectively, these results indicate that the fabricated electrodes possess satisfactory energy storage capability and adequate electrochemical stability. The findings suggest that biomass-derived activated carbon–pyrolyzed sucrose composites warrant consideration as cost-effective and environmentally benign electrode materials for sustainable energy storage applications.

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