Enhanced electrochemical performance of ordered mesoporous carbons by a one-step carbonization/activation treatment

• An activated ordered mesoporous carbon (AOMC) material was prepared via a facile carbonization/activation route.
• This carbonization/activation method is simple, timesaving and inexpensive than other approaches.
• The AOMC material possesses developed hierarchical micro/mesoporous structure, higher surface area and large pore volume.
• It exhibits high specific capacitance, good rate performance and excellent cycling stability.

Activated ordered mesoporous carbon (AOMC) material was prepared by a one-step carbonization/activation method using SBA-15 as hard template, furfuryl alchohol (FA) as carbon source and ZnCl2 as activation agent. The as-synthesized AOMC possesses hierarchical micro/mesoporous structure and high BET surface area (up to 1465.7 m2 g− 1), which accelerate the ion-transport and charge-transfer during charging/discharging process for supercapacitors. A maximum specific capacitance value of 270 F g− 1 for AOMC electrode at a current density of 1 A g− 1 in 6 M KOH aqueous solution was obtained from the charge–discharge curves. Meanwhile, it also exhibited outstanding rate performance (~ 80% capacity retention from 0.5 A g− 1 to 20 A g− 1) and excellent cycling stability (∼ 94% retention after 5000 continuous charge–discharge cycles). The assembled AOMC-based symmetric cell delivers a maximum energy density of 11.8 Wh kg− 1 at a power density of 450.1 W kg− 1 under a voltage range of 0–1.8 V in 0.5 M Na2SO4 aqueous electrolyte.