Edge defects-enriched porous carbon derived from food waste for high-performance supercapacitors.

• Food waste was first used as precursor to prepare porous carbon. • Many edge defects were formed in carbon sheet. • The electrode exhibited super-high capacitance of 442 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1. • The capacitance remained 94.41% after 10,000 cycles at 10 A g−1. Food waste, a common municipal domestic organic waste, has been successfully converted into porous carbon with abundant edge defects as electrode materials for supercapacitors. Owning to the synergistic effect of the edge defects and porous structure, the as-obtained porous carbon electrode exhibited super-high specific capacitance of 442 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1 in three-electrode system using 6 M KOH as electrolyte. Furthermore, the specific capacitance at a current density of 10 A g−1 remained 94.41% after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles, indicating a superior cycling stability of the food waste-derived porous carbon electrode. This study could inspire a new paradigm in recycling food waste into promising porous carbon with desirable characteristics for energy storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]