Hierarchically porous carbon derived from an aqueous curable composition for supercapacitors

•Hierarchically porous carbon for supercapacitors was synthesized using Poly (acrylic acid salt)/Polyol.•The carbon (C-700-2.0) demonstrates superior specific capacitance, excellent rate capability and outstanding cycling durability.•High specific surface area and the synergistic effect of the hierarchical pores contribute to the superior performance of C-700-2.0.

Hierarchically porous carbon with micropores, mesopores, macropores and high specific surface area for supercapacitors is fabricated from an aqueous curable composition by curing and subsequent carbonization, followed by KOH activation under N2 atmosphere. With the manipulation of KOH activation to the peculiar morphology developed during carbonization, the external specific surface area grows from 208 to 1151 m2 g−1, while the specific surface area of micropores stays at around 1100 m2 g−1, leading to the micro/external specific surface area ratio decreases from 5.36 to 0.94. Prepared with KOH/carbon weight ratio at 2.0, the porous carbon with total specific surface area of 1590 m2 g−1 and moderate micro/external specific surface area ratio of about 2.0, exhibits intriguing electrochemical performance in 1 M H2SO4 aqueous electrolyte, such as superior specific capacitance (274 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1), excellent rate capability (161 F g−1 remained at 20 A g−1) and outstanding cycling stability (no capacitance loss over 5000 cycles). The promising electrochemical performance could be attributed to the synergy of the hierarchically porous morphology and high specific surface area.

Graphical abstractNovel hierarchically porous carbons are prepared using Poly (acrylic acid salt)/Polyol as precursor by KOH activation and exhibit superior electrochemical capacitive performance.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide