Inspired by game theory: A spatial confinement strategy for narrow-pore distribution porous carbons toward high-performance supercapacitors

Abstract

This work suggests how understanding the Gibbs free energy evolution mechanism recorded for solid activators at high temperatures can provide a simple and general route to targeted tuning in preparing porous carbons. We show that based on a novel spatial confinement strategy, it is likely to target-produce pine sawdust (PS)-derived porous carbons characterized by higher specific surface area than analogous conventionally porous carbons but similar average pore size and pore size distribution (PSD). Notwithstanding the increased specific surface area and total pore volume of PS-derived porous carbon prepared under spatial confinement forces compared to conventional porous carbon, the pore structures recorded for PS-derived porous carbon obtained under spatial confinement forces arise from narrow pores, which leads to a sharp growth in specific capacitance over a range. Specifically, the texture properties can be tuned by various spatial confinement forces, bypassing the activation process tuning, template, sequential activation, and trial-and-error methods. Notably, PC-40-850 achieved higher specific capacitance values. Encouragingly, PC-40-850 offered excellent cycle stability accompanied by great energy density values (e.g., 29.31 Wh/kg upon 499.99 W/kg). Specifically, PC-40-850 realized a surface area-normalized electrical double-layer capacitance of 65.93 mF/m2. Excellent manufacturability and variable narrow-pore distribution permit the spatial confinement strategy to produce numerous advanced and multistage porous carbons for matching specific applications.