Pollen-containing nanostructured material production and supercapacitor electrode design

Carbon-containing materials attract attention with their use in many technological fields such as catalysis, sensor, energy and environment. Activated carbons stand out in the production of double-layer supercapacitors, especially due to their high surface area, good conductivity and porous structure. Within the scope of this thesis, pine pollen has been used to produce nanostructured and mesoporous carbon materials, since it can be obtained cheaply and easily and can be converted into a carbon source with environmentally friendly and green consensus techniques. Pine pollen was first pre-carbonized in pure water by the hydrothermal method. Afterward, nano-structured porous carbons were obtained by activating with KOH and CuCl2 in different proportions and then heat treatment at 900 C. The surface structure, textural properties and morphology of the obtained material were examined by SEM, Raman and BET techniques. While the maximum surface area was obtained as 2030m2/g for the material activated with KOH at a ratio of 1:2 (pollen: activation material), it was obtained as 737 m2/g for the material activated with CuCl2 at a ratio of 1:5. Although the surface area of the material activated with KOH is high, the pollen structure has deteriorated after carbonization. However, while the diameter of the pollen significantly decreased in the sample activated with CuCl2, it was determined that the morphology was partially preserved. These mesoporous structures produced by pollen were used as electrode active material to form supercapacitor electrodes and their electrochemical performance was tested. The maximum specific capacitance of the supercapacitor electrode containing porous carbon activated with KOH at a ratio of 1: 2 was obtained as 237.5 F/g, while the specific capacitance for the electrode containing porous carbon activated with CuCl2 at a ratio of 1: 5 was 131.5 F/g. In addition, for environmental applications, the adsorption properties of these materials were determined and their usage in the removal of metal ions from the aqueous environment was investigated.