Integrated Plasma Exfoliation and Dye Degradation for Sustainable Upcycling of Spent Zinc–Carbon Battery into Supercapacitor Electrodes

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Abstract
Graphite rods from spent zinc-carbon batteries were upcycled into graphite oxide (GO) via a cathodic surface-plasma exfoliation process, enabling the simultaneous degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye and structural transformation of the graphite electrode. The MO degradation process followed a first-order kinetic model, achieving a 98.4% removal after 30 min of plasma treatment. Under the high-energy plasma environment, the graphite layers underwent exfoliation, partial reduction, and defect generation, producing GO enriched with oxygen-containing functional groups. This upcycled GO was subsequently employed as the active electrode material for symmetric solid-state supercapacitors by using PVA-based gel electrolytes. The GO/MO device, obtained from plasma treatment in the MO-containing electrolyte, exhibited significantly improved electrochemical performance, delivering a specific capacitance of 310.05 F g-1 at 0.5 A g-1 and an energy density of 15.5 Wh kg-1. It also maintained 92.71% of its initial capacitance after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles.
Funding Information
  • Vingroup Innovation Foundation (VINIF.2025.DA113)

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