A group of researchers have created a new use for used- cigarette butts by converting them into electrical energy storage material.
According to co-author of the study, Professor Jongheop Yi, from Seoul National University, South Korea, their study shows that used-cigarette filters could be transformed into a high-performing carbon-based material, by using a simple one step process, which simultaneously offers a green solution to meeting the energy demands of society.
Carbon is the most popular material that supercapacitors are composed of, due to its low cost, high surface area, high electrical conductivity and long term stability.
It is estimated that as many as 5.6 trillion used-cigarettes, or 766,571 metric tons, are deposited into the environment worldwide every year.
In their study, the researchers demonstrated that the cellulose acetate fibres that cigarette filters are mostly composed of could be transformed into a carbon-based material using a simple, one-step burning technique called pyrolysis.
As a result of this burning process, the resulting carbon-based material contained a number of tiny pores, increasing its performance as a supercapacitive material.
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The material stored a higher amount of electrical energy than commercially available carbon and also had a higher amount of storage compared to graphene and carbon nanotubes, as reported in previous studies.
The study is published in the journal Nanotechnology.