Nanostructurally engineered TiO₂ embedded Mentha aquatica biowaste derived carbon for supercapacitor applications

The invention of cost-effective, clean, and eco-friendly energy storage technology has been capturing a lot of worldwide interest. Herein, biogenically synthesized TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) were ultrasonically coupled with biomass-derived activated carbon (BAC) to obtain composite (denoted as TiO₂@BAC). With the inspiration of nature, Mentha Aquatica leaves extract was employed for biogenic preparation of TiO₂ NPs, and residual solid waste (SW) after extract was subsequently utilized for BAC. It is noteworthy that, this unique intensive method does not require any harmful or toxic chemicals and solvents, and no secondary waste is generated. TEM analysis of TiO₂@BAC revealed spherical morphology of TiO₂ NPs (average size ∼ 18 nm) that were accumulated on nanosheets. Raman, XRD, and XPS manifested the successful construction of TiO₂@BAC. The electrochemical performance of the as-synthesized BAC, TiO₂ NPs, and TiO₂@BAC electrodes was tested towards supercapacitor applications. Notably, the TiO₂@BAC electrode exhibited capacitance of 149 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g, which is approximately twice than that of the bare TiO₂ electrode (76 F/g) along with excellent capacitance restoration of ∼99%. The TiO₂@BAC electrode further revealed outstanding cyclic stability, exhibiting capacitance retention of ∼90% (at 5 A/g) after 10,000 charge/discharge cycles. Furthermore, the TiO₂@BAC electrode delivered optimal specific energy density (6.96 Wh/kg) and large power density (2.07 kW/kg at 10 A/g). Moreover, the TiO₂@BAC delivers an excellent restoration and retention performances of ∼100 and ∼95% (after 10,000 cycles) at 1 A/g with ∼98% coulombic efficiency in symmetric configuration (maximum cell voltage of 1.2 V).