The simple preparation of a hierarchical porous carbon with high surface area for high performance supercapacitors

A simple method was proposed to prepare a high surface area and hierarchical porous carbon for supercapacitors by one step carbonization-activation of poly (vinylidene chloride) with NaOH. The porous carbon has hierarchical micropores, mesopores and macropores with a high surface area of 2815 m2 g−1. Its capacitance reaches 376 and 215 F g−1 at current densities of 0.05 and 50 A g−1, respectively, in 6 mol L−1 KOH aqueous electrolyte. The capacitance is 170 and 124 F g−1at 0.05 and 20 A g−1, respectively, in 1 mol L−1 Et4NBF4/AN non-aqueous electrolyte. The high capacitance and its high retention ratios at high current density in both electrolytes could be ascribed to its hierarchically porous structure and high surface area.