AbstractThe basic interest of this study was to see whether and how the sorption and electrical double layer (EDL) properties of porous whiskers‐like carbide‐derived carbon (CDC) from SiC nanofibres differ from the commercial SiC‐derived carbon. SiC nanofibres were obtained via combustion synthesis route from CaSi2/PTFE mixture. Resulting carbon material was analysed by powder XRD and low‐temperature nitrogen sorption methods. EDL characteristics were evaluated and compared with CDC obtained from α‐SiC and β‐SiC powders. The cyclic voltammograms and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy show that the electrical double layer performance of SiC nanofibres‐derived amorphous carbon is better than most of the common pyrolytically made carbons. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)