Chitosan-derived carbon aerogel nanocomposite as an active electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors

The valorization of shrimp wastes to develop advanced materials brings economic and environmental advantages. This paper presents a facile and eco-friendly synthesis of shrimp chitosan-derived carbon (CCS) and CCS/NiO@Ni(OH)2 (CSSN) aerogel nanocomposite for supercapacitor application, in which NiO and Ni(OH)2 nanoparticles were tightly attached to the porous surface of CCS aerogel. As a result, CCSN-300 aerogel carbonized at 300 °C has high porosity and electrical conductivity and demonstrates its potential as an active electrode material for supercapacitors. The CCSN-300 aerogel material electrode exhibits a high capacitance of 316 mAh g−1 at 1.0 A g−1. Furthermore, the CCS//CCSN-300 device had a capacitance of 209 F g−1 at 1.0 A g−1 and over 84% remaining after the 10,000 cycles. Moreover, it has a high energy density of 65 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 1500 W kg−1. The results demonstrate that chitosan-derived carbon composites hold great promise in high application efficiency for energy storage.