Activated carbon fibers prepared directly from stabilized fibers for use as electrodes in supercapacitors

• Chemically activated carbon fibers can be obtained directly from stabilized fibers.
• Stabilized fibers are highly activated with lower amount of activating agent.
• Activated fibers from stabilized fibers are active electrodes in SCs.
• Capacitances are higher when using conventional fibers and commercial ACs.

A novel type of carbon fibers, obtained by direct chemical activation of stabilized fibers (non-carbonized), is investigated as active electrode material in supercapacitors (SCs). The main advantage of this novel synthetic method is that it avoids the step of carbonization of the stabilized fibers prior to activation, reducing therefore their cost of production. The as-obtained materials exhibit specific capacitances up to 100 F g–1 in aqueous electrolytes (1.0 M H2SO4), values that are not only higher than those obtained with conventional fibers but also comparable to the capacitances of SCs based on well-established reference materials such as commercial activated carbons (ACs).

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