Water bamboo-derived porous carbons as electrode materials for supercapacitors

Microporous carbon materials with specific surface area as high as 2352 m(2) g(-1) were synthesized by the carbonization of KOH-pretreated partially carbonized water bamboo at 800 degrees C under a N-2 atmosphere for supercapacitor application. In particular, the carbon materials synthesized at a 2 : 1 weight ratio of KOH and pre-treated carbon exhibited excellent performance with a maximum specific capacitance of 268 F g(-1) at a current density of 1 A g(-1) in 6 M KOH electrolyte and retained up to 222 F g(-1) even at a current density of 10 A g(-1). In addition, this material also showed a good capacity retention of 97.28% over 5000 cycles at a current density of 10 A g(-1). The excellent electrochemical properties could be due to their high specific surface area, abundant pore volume, appropriate pore size distribution and some oxygen groups.