Research Article
Valorization of Albedo Orange Peel Waste to Develop Electrode
Materials in Supercapacitors for the Electric Industry
Gladis G. Su ´ arez ,
1,2
Jos´ e A. Ram´ ırez ,
3
Juan F. Castañ ´ on ,
3
Jorge A. Galav´ ız ,
4
and Perla C. Mel´ endez
5
1
Centro de Excelencia, Universidad Aut´ onoma de Tamaulipas, Centro Universitario, 87120 Cd. Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico
2
Universidad Polit´ecnica de Victoria, Parque Cient´ıfico y Tecnol´ ogico de Tamaulipas, 87138 Cd. Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico
3
Unidad Acad´ emica de Trabajo Social y Ciencias para El Desarrollo Humano, Universidad Aut´ onoma de Tamaulipas,
Centro Universitario, 87120 Cd. Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico
4
Universidad Ju´ arez Aut´ onoma de Tabasco, Av. Universidad s/n Magisterial, 86040 Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
5
Centro de Investigaci´ on y de Estudios Avanzados Del Instituto Polit´ ecnico Nacional, Zona Industrial 25900,
Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, Mexico
Correspondence should be addressed to Gladis G. Su´ arez; gsuarezv@upv.edu.mx
Received 6 August 2021; Revised 10 November 2021; Accepted 16 November 2021; Published 10 December 2021
Academic Editor: Ana Angelica Feregrino-Perez
Copyright © 2021 Gladis G. Su´ arez et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
is work proposes the use of albedo of orange peel in generation of carbon for applications in supercapacitors. For this, a
comparison of compositional and electrochemical properties present in the carbons obtained of albedo, flavedo, and the complete
orange peel was carried out. e morphology and composition of carbons obtained were analyzed by Field Emission Scanning
Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared
spectroscopy (FT-IR). e synthetized carbons were not subjected to the activation process by chemical compounds to relate only
the properties of orange peel parts with their electrochemical behaviour. All samples were tested by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and
electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). e carbon obtained of albedo presented a superior specific capacitance (210F/g)
of the rest samples. e value of albedo-based carbon capacitance is comparable with works presented in the literature that used a
whole orange peel with chemical activators. In this way, it is possible to obtain large capacitances using only a part of orange peel
(albedo). us, the importance of this study is that the albedo can be proposed as a material applied to electrodes for super-
capacitors while the flavedo can be used in food industry or for oil extraction.
1. Introduction
A big percent of electricity generation in the world depends
on fossil fuels. In Mexico, the power plants based on fossil
fuels reached 79% of all installed plants in 2019 [1]. However,
due to the depletion of fossil fuels, the countries are trying to
deliver electricity based on other types of generation. So, the
incorporation of alternative energies such as wind, solar, and
hydrogen energy has been proposed to be incorporated on
microgrids and grids of the electric industry. Even though
the alternative energies are a good option, these have a
random behavior that requires devices that store energy
when it is excessive and deliver it when is necessary. e
Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) mostly used are the batteries
and supercapacitors [2].
e supercapacitor has the advantage of long cycle life
and low cost, and its operation does not cause pollution [2].
Energy storage in supercapacitors is carried out using
electrostatic charge accumulation or employing faradic re-
actions of electroactive species [3]. ese devices are con-
stituted by two electrodes (anode and cathode), an
electrolyte, and a separator to isolate the electrodes [4].
Electrodes for supercapacitors based on activated carbon
have been proposed due to their good electrical properties
Hindawi
Journal of Chemistry
Volume 2021, Article ID 3022815, 9 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/3022815