Facile synthesis of hierarchically porous carbon for supercapacitor derived from water-soluble pitch

Abstract Hierarchical porosity carbons have been synthesized via carbonization and activation using water-soluble pitch as carbon source. By further introducing potassium acetate as an activation agent, the obtained materials have a high specific BET surface area of 1108 m2 g-1 with N, O and S doping. The effects of different activation temperatures on the pore structure and composition of the carbon were investigated. The obtained carbon samples exhibits a maximum gravimetric capacitance of 208 F g-1 when evaluated as an electrode material in 6 mol L-1 KOH aqueous solution and good rate capability of 69.5% retention at 20 A g-1. Furthermore, it demonstrates good cyclic stability, showing a high capacitance retention of 96.3% over 10000 charge-discharge cycles at a current density of 2 A g-1.