Synthesis of bamboo-derived porous carbon: exploring structure change, pore formation and supercapacitor application

Biomass porous carbon possessing hierarchical pores and abundant heteroatoms has emerged as a sustainable and cost-effective functional material. Herein, a green cellulose solvent was employed as the activation agent and nitrogen source to obtain this distinctive structure from bamboo cellulose fibers. With the assistance of thermal treatment, the solvent could fully infiltrate into cellulose structure of raw material and result in the cellulosic structure damage, forming ultimately the three-dimensional conductive network, hierarchical pores, as well as high heteroatom doping (8.43 at%). Benefited from the unique structure, the obtained porous carbon as the supercapacitor electrode showed excellent capacitive performance (280 F/g at 0.3 A/g), good rate capability and cyclic stability. Moreover, influences of hydrothermal temperature on cellulose structure, pore formation, and the resultant supercapacitor performance were demonstrated. This green strategy shows potential for producing hierarchical porous carbon with high heteroatoms from biomass resources.