Oak-Mushroom-Derived Activated Carbon for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Capacitors

Choi, Sua; Yang, Jeong-Jin; Oh, Yeong-Seok; Seo, Seung-Woo; Jeong, Moongook; Park, Seong-Jik; Ahn, Seongki

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J. Electrochem. Sci. Technol > Accepted Articles

Research Article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33961/jecst.2025.01116 [Accepted]
Published online January 19, 2026.

Oak-Mushroom-Derived Activated Carbon for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Capacitors

Sua Choi¹, Jeong-Jin Yang², Yeong-Seok Oh¹, Seung-Woo Seo¹, Moongook Jeong², Seong-Jik Park^3,4, Seongki Ahn¹

¹Department of Chemical Engineering, Research Center of Chemical Technology, Hankyong National University, 27 Jungangro, Anseong-si 17579, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
²Research Organization for Nano and Life Innovation, Waseda University, 3-4-1, Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan
³Department of Bioresources and Rural System Engineering, Hankyong National Hankyong National University, 27 Jungangro, Anseong-si 17579, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
⁴Institute of Agricultural Environmental Science, Hankyong National University, 27 Jungangro, Anseong-si 17579, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea

Correspondence: Moongook Jeong,
Email: mg-jeong@aoni.waseda.jp
Seong-Jik Park,
Email: parkseongjik@hknu.ac.kr
Seongki Ahn,
Email: skahn@hknu.ac.kr

Received: 20 November 2025 • Accepted: 18 January 2026
*Sua Choi and Jeong-Jin Yang contributed equally to this study as co-first authors.

Abstract

Lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) are considered promising next-generation energy storage devices that combine the high energy density of lithium-ion batteries with the high power density of supercapacitors. However, their performance is often constrained by the limited ion-accessible surface area and sluggish charge transfer of conventional carbon electrodes. In this study, a high-performance LIC was developed using activated carbon derived from oak mushrooms (OM) as the cathode and lithium titanate (LTO) as the anode. The OM-derived activated carbon, synthesized through KOH activation, exhibited a hierarchical porous structure with a large specific surface area of 2206.4 m² g^-1 and an average pore volume of 0.9146 cm³ g^-1, facilitating efficient ion adsorption/desorption and rapid charge transport. Consequently, the OM//LTO full cell demonstrated outstanding electrochemical performance, maintaining 99% of its initial capacity after 700 cycles and delivering energy and power densities of 113 Wh kg^-1 and 14,000 W kg^-1, respectively. This work highlights the potential of sustainable, mushroom-derived activated carbon as an eco-friendly and efficient electrode material for advanced LICs, offering a practical pathway to enhance the balance between energy and power output.