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Interconnected hierarchical porous carbon was successfully prepared by direct carbonization of industrial waste sodium lignosulfonate without additional templating and activation agents. The as-prepared carbon sample shows a moderate specific surface area of 903 m2 g−1 and high contents of 8.11 at% oxygen and 1.76 at% nitrogen, which could improve the electrolyte-affinitive surface area in an aqueous electrolyte. When used as electrode materials for symmetric supercapacitors in 7 M KOH electrolytes, the as-synthesized carbon sample exhibits a significantly high gravimetric capacitance of 247 F g−1, a volumetric capacitance of 240 F cm−3, and an areal capacitance of 27.4 μF cm−2 at a current density of 0.05 A g−1. Moreover, a superior energy density of 8.4 W h L−1 (at 13.9 W L−1) and a power density of 5573.1 W L−1 (at 3.5 W h L−1), as well as a remarkable cycling stability after 20 000 cycles at two different current densities were achieved for the assembled supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]