Microporous carbon derived from anthracite as supercapacitor electrodes with commercial level mass loading

Abstract

Porous carbon is considered as an ideal electrode material for supercapacitor applications. Meanwhile, converting coal into cleaner energy storage materials accords with the concept of green development nowadays. Herein, microporous carbons derived from anthracite (AMCs) were prepared via a simple KOH activation, which possess ultrahigh specific surface area (up to 2947 m2 g−1), developed pore structure (1.473 cm3 g−1 total pore volume) and considerable yield (≥42.3%). The optimized sample (AMC800) achieves largest micropore volume (0.947 cm3 g−1) and superior conductivity (976.56 S m−1). Therefore, AMCs reveals excellent electrochemical performances as electrode material with commercial level mass loading (∼10±0.5 mg cm−2). In aqueous electrolyte, the assembled SCs present outstanding specific capacitance (up to 282 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1) and high rate performance (87.23% at 10 A g−1). For organic system, AMC800-based SC delivers superior energy density (34.08 Wh kg−1) and remarkable cycling stability (93.45% retention after 10,000 cycles), which are superior to supercapacitor grade commercial carbon (YP-50F). Hence, this work is significant to the actual production of coal-based porous carbon and its commercial application as supercapacitors electrode material.