Activation of ZnCl2 and KOH Carbon from Bark of Salak Wedi as a Material for Making Supercapacitor Electrodes

Activation of ZnCl2 and KOH Carbon from bark of salak wedi as a material for making supercapacitor electrodes An activated carbon is a potential material that can be used as electrodes in super capacitors. It has a higher energy density than batteries and fuel cells, and a higher power density than conventional capacitors. This research was carried out using activated carbon powder from the bark of salak wedi which was physically activated at a temperature of 500° C . The activation stage is chemical activation using ZnCl2 and KOH activators, after which gradual activation is carried out, namely: carbon ZnCl2 + KOH (s) and carbon KOH + ZnCl2 (s). So that with the gradual activation, 4 variations of the sample will be obtained, namely: ZnCl2, KOH, carbon ZnCl2 + KOH (s) and carbon KOH + ZnCl2 (s).The physical characteristics of the activated carbon from the bark of salak wedi were analyzed using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to see its powder morphology. While, X-ray diffraction (XRD) is used to examine the structure of the bark of activated carbon that that has the potential to make electrodes of super capacitors . The results of SEM with graded activation had fewer pores, were not evenly distributed and tended to agglomerate compared to the activated carbon sample of salak bark which was activated once.This research has not yet reached the stage of making electrodes, it is hoped that in future research it can be applied to electrodes so that data such as capacity, voltage, current and others are obtained.