Mesoporous activated carbon from amphiphilic carbonaceous material and its application in EDLC

Amphiphilic carbonaceous material (ACM), which could be dispersed in alkaline aqueous solutions in nano-scale, was prepared by oxidation of green needle coke. Mesoporous activated carbon was then obtained by further KOH activation, named as AC-A. It was showed that AC-A was a mesoporous material with surface area and pore volume up to 3347 m²/g and 1.81 cm³/g. For its excellent pore structure and surface characteristics, AC-A was selected as electrode material for Electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC). According to electrochemical tests, AC-A electrode exhibited specific capacitance as high as 348 F/g and also excellent performance under large discharging currents, which was partly attributed to the large specific surface area, high mesoporosity and good surface wettability of the material.