(674a) Applications of Phytoremediation for Catalytic Enhancement of Biocarbon Towards Supercapacitors

The U.S. generates approximately two billion tons of mining waste annually, leading to inorganic heavy metal contaminates such as Ni, deposited into surrounding ecosystems at toxic levels. Phytoremediation offers a low-cost solution for environmental clean-up, particularly in impoverished areas, however current phytoremediation strategies generate unusable biomass due to the toxic metal contents. A novel solution for this unused waste lies in the area of energy storage, especially for supercapacitor applications. This work focuses on the cultivation of water hyacinths, a known metal hyperaccumulator, in various concentrations of Ni-doped water followed by synthesis of harvested biomass into high quality biocarbon. Biomass was subjected to thermal annealing at 500 °C for 1 h under Argon environment to cleave functional groups. Subsequent biochar was improved through thermochemical/catalytic activation at 800 °C for 1 h with KOH providing additional enhancement during biocarbon synthesis. Electrochemical results demonstrate a specific capacitance of 541 F g^-1 making it suitable for use in the supercapacitor for electricity storage. Physical and electrochemical characterizations, including ICP, SEM, BET, ATR-FTIR, Raman, and XRD, cyclic voltammetry, chronopotentiometry, and EIS will be discussed. This work provides a value-added product and in-depth insights into naturally embedded catalyst, while simultaneously remediating contaminated mining sites.