Porous Graphitic Carbon Fibers for Fast‐Charging Supercapacitor Applications

Abstract

Large accessible surface area, facile pore engineering, and high electrical conductivity are highly desirable properties of efficient electrode materials. Herein, porous carbon fibers with a graphitic carbon skeleton and amorphous carbon body are successfully synthesized from directly carbonized polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/FeCl3 electrospun fibers via in situ catalytic graphitization and subsequent chemical activation. Due to the graphitic carbon skeleton, which facilitates fast electron transfer, and porous carbon body, which gives a large specific surface area for charge accumulation and fast ion diffusion, optimal porous graphitic carbon fibers are developed that exhibit a fast‐charging electrochemical performance with a capacitance of 165 F g−1 at high current densities of 300 A g−1 in an alkaline electrolyte. These findings can prove to be beneficial for realizing a supercapacitor with rapid charging and discharging ability at high current densities.