A simple method for preparing porous carbon by PVDC pyrolysis

A simple method for preparing porous carbon with high surface area was presented in this paper. The homogeneous poly(vinylidene chloride) (PVDC) was used as starting material. After being carbonized at high temperature under the protection of inert atmosphere, porous carbon with surface area higher than 1200 m2/g has been simply prepared without activation or any other additional processes. The effect of carbonization temperature on the microstructure of the porous carbon was investigated by measuring the BET surface area, pore size distribution, XRD and SEM, etc. The electrochemical measurements showed that the PVDC-based carbon exhibits outstanding high volume capacitance (214 F/cm3) and good rate performance, indicating that it is a promising electrode material for electric double layer capacitors.