Facile synthesis of molybdenum disulfide adorned heteroatom-doped porous carbon for energy storage applications

The rising energy demand and fossil-fuel use, along with growing environmental pollution, need the creation and development of innovative, ecologically friendly, and renewable high-performance energy storage systems. The key requirements of sustainable translation of biomass waste into a cost-effective and high-performance supercapacitor have become a primary concern to overcome the existing pitfalls. The current work outlines the large-scale synthesis of greater energy density, quicker charging, and superior long-term supercapacitor electrodes using banana peel as a heteroatom-doped carbon (H-PC) precursor that is both sustainable and economical. Dried banana peel carbonized at 800 °C for 2 h under the argon atmosphere was homogeneously mixed 20 wt% of MoS₂ by the dry-impregnation method. Few layers of MoS₂-decorated H-PC (MoS₂@H-PC) composite owning micro/mesoporous structure, and satisfactory surface area (210 m² g⁻¹) was fabricated as the active electrode material to examine the electrochemical properties. MoS₂@H-PC exhibited significant faradaic reactions and electrostatic adsorption due to the presence of numerous electrochemical active sites leading to a profound specific capacitance of 408 F g⁻¹ at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹. Exploiting the unique heterostructure and the synergy of nitrogen atoms, MoS₂, and carbon layers, MoS₂@H-PC reveals impressive cyclic stability with 90% capacitance retention beyond 10,000 cycles. This study paves the path for the future development of high energy density and robust supercapacitors from various agricultural waste products and landfills. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].