Studi Awal Perlakuan Termal Grafitisasi Tempurung Kelapa dan Pengaruhnya terhadap Tingkat Kristalinitas Karbon

Abstract

Coconut shells are a type of biomass with a high fixed carbon content, making them a potential raw material for the production of graphitic carbon. However, the graphitization process generally requires very high temperatures, resulting in high energy consumption and production costs. This study aims to examine the effect of the graphitization process at 900 °C on the crystallinity of coconut shell carbon that has been activated using NaOH without the addition of a metal catalyst. The synthesis process consisted of four main stages: cleaning and drying the raw material; carbonization at 350 °C for 2 hours; chemical activation using a NaOH solution; and graphitization in a furnace at 900 °C for 3 hours. Crystal structure characterization was performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) to analyze phase changes, degree of crystallinity, d-spacing values, and crystallite size. The results showed that the graphitization process increased the orderliness of the carbon structure, as indicated by the appearance of a (002) diffraction peak at an angle of 2θ equal to 25.91°, a decrease in the d-spacing value to 3.439 Å, and an increase in crystallite size to 31.07 nm. These results indicate a reorganization of carbon atoms toward a more graphitic structure compared to the carbon before and after activation. Thus, the combination of NaOH activation and graphitization at 900 °C is capable of increasing the crystallinity of the carbon tem.