Waste Paper-Derived Porous Carbon Incorporated with Mesoporous ZIF-8 Crystals for Symmetrical Supercapacitors

Activated carbon (AC) is a low-cost porous material withhigh conductivityand a specific surface area. Recently, commercially available AC hasbeen replaced by waste-derived activated carbons (WDACs) as they arerenewable, cost-effective, and eco-friendly. The synthesis of metal-organicframeworks (MOFs) embedded in the WDAC matrix as a composite electrodeis carried out for energy storage applications. Briefly, the zinc-basedzeolitic imidazole framework (ZIF-8) is combined with waste paper-derivedactivated carbon (PAC-800) and used to fabricate a solid-state symmetricalsupercapacitor that delivered an energy density of 37.1 Wh kg(-1) at a power density of 880.1 W kg(-1). Compared to pristine materials (ZIF-8 and PAC-800 alone), the electrochemicalperformance of the PAC-800/ZIF-8 composite electrode is greatly enhanceddue to the mesoporous nature of ZIF-8.