Scientists in China and the US claim to have found a valuable use for the thousands of dead leaves that litter the roadsides of China each autumn.
Instead of burning them, which is the traditional solution and one that exacerbates China’s air pollution problem, the researchers say they have developed a method to convert the leaves into a porous carbon material that can be used in electronics.
New research published last week by researchers at Qilu University of Technology in China and Penn State in the US outlines a simple process to turn leaf matter into organic supercapacitors – energy storage systems that harness electrodes and electrolytes to charge and discharge energy very quickly.
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Firstly the leaves are ground down to a powder, then heated for 12 hours at 220 degrees Celsius. The resulting carbon powder is then treated with a solution of potassium hydroxide and heated again to up to 800 degrees Celsius, leaving a brown powder of carbon microspheres.
The final product has “extraordinary electrical properties”, the researchers claim, suggesting it could be used to make supercapacitors rivalling the performance of even those made from so-called wonder material graphene.
The technique can also be used to transform other biomass, such as potato waste, corn straw, pine wood and rice straw, into carbon electrode materials, the researchers suggest. However, tree leaves – particularly those from the Phoenix Tree which are common on streets in China – are particularly effective, they say.