Soluble starch-derived porous carbon microspheres with interconnected and hierarchical structure by a low dosage KOH activation for ultrahigh rate supercapacitors.

ABSTRACT

The developed porous structure and high density are essential to enhance the bulk performance of carbon-based supercapacitors. Nevertheless, it remains a significant challenge to optimize the balance between the porous structure and the density of carbon materials to realize superior gravimetric and areal electrochemical performance. The soluble starch-derived interconnected hierarchical porous carbon microspheres were prepared through a simple hydrothermal treatment succeeded by chemical activation with a low dosage of KOH. Due to the formation of interconnected spherical morphology, hierarchical porous structure, reasonable mesopore volume (0.33 cm3 g-1) and specific surface area (1162 m2 g-1), the prepared carbon microsphere has an ultrahigh capacitance of 394 F g-1 @ 1 A g-1 and a high capacitance retention of 62.7 % @ 80 A g-1. The assembled two-electrode device displays good cycle stability after 20,000 cycles and an ultra-high energy density of 11.6 Wh kg-1 @ 250 W kg-1. Moreover, the sample still exhibits a specific capacitance of 165 F g-1 @ 1 A g-1 at a high mass loading of 10 mg cm-2, resulting in a high areal capacitance of 1.65 F cm-2. The strategy proposed in this study, via a low-dose KOH activation process, provides the way for the synthesis of high-performance porous carbon materials.