Enhanced supercapacitive performance of porous activated carbon derived from polyaniline prepared by electrochemical synthesis

• Polyaniline nanorods were synthesized by electrochemical synthesis.
• The activated carbon was prepared from polyaniline by physical activation.
• The activated carbon has a high surface area of 928.9 m2 g−1.
• The existence of mesopores lead to good electrochemical properties.
• The activated carbon displays a high capacitance of 285 F g−1.

The activated carbon was prepared from polyaniline by using electrochemical synthesis, subsequent carbonization and activation under the condition of mixed oxygen and nitrogen. The electrochemical measurements result showed that the activation led to better capacitive performances. The carbon reached a high specific gravimetric capacitance of 285 F g−1, with rectangular cyclic voltammetry curves at a scan rate of 2 mV s−1 in 6.0 mol L−1 KOH solution, and it remained 83.7% even at a high scan rate of 50 mV s−1. Furthermore, the porous carbon electrodes exhibited durable operation. After 10,000 cycles, the specific capacitance is still about 98.6% of the initial specific capacitance. These demonstrated that the activated carbon would be a promising electrode material for supercapacitors.