Graphitic porous carbon with multiple structural merits for high-performance organic supercapacitor

Abstract

To circumvent the trade-off contradiction between porosity and graphitization of carbon materials for high-performance electrical double layer supercapacitors (EDLCs), we herein demonstrate a facile and effective solution by simultaneously achieving the etching reaction and graphitization process of a coal precursor with high carbon content and pre-formed graphite-like crystallites. The resulting graphitic porous carbon (AC-1000) exhibits simultaneously a high BET surface area up to 3214 m2 g−1 and a long-range graphitic network. In addition, AC-1000 also possesses a high packing density, low heteroatom and metal impurity contents (oxygen content less than 3.5 at.% and metal impurity less than 200 ppm) as well as an unprecedented production yield of 40%, all of which are highly desirable, but rarely achieved in reported porous carbons. The constructed organic supercapacitor delivers all-round improvements in capacitive performances in term of high capacitances (172 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 and 150 F g−1 at 30 A g−1), high energy density (37.2 Wh kg−1 at 303 W kg−1) and high power density (20.5 kW kg−1 at 25.3 Wh kg−1) as well as an excellent cycling stability of 10,000 cycles, markedly surpassing commercial activated carbon and showing application potential for commercial organic EDLCs.