Capacitive behavior of glucose-derived porous activated carbon with different morphologies.

Glucose-derived porous activated carbon materials (AGC-600-4 and AGC-180- x) are prepared using ZnCl 2 as the etching agent via impregnation treatment and hydrothermal method followed by the calcination process. The analytic results indicate that the obtained materials exhibit higher specific surface area and superior double-layer capacitive behavior than the corresponding pristine carbon (GC-600 and GC-180) when used as electrode materials for supercapacitors. Moreover, compared with the AGC-600-4 nanosheets, the optimal AGC-180-4 microspheres have a high specific surface area of 1713 m2 g−1 and a maximum specific capacitance of 235.9 F g−1 at a current density of 1.0 A g−1 in the three-electrode system. Meanwhile, AGC-180-4 also exhibits better capacitive properties than AGC-600-4 in the two-electrode system, showing an excellent cyclic stability with a high energy density of 24.63 Wh kg−1 at the power density of 949.5 W kg−1. It is thus demonstrated that AGC-180-4 could be ideal electrode materials for supercapacitor due to its unique etched spherical structure and excellent electrochemical properties. Image 1 • Glucose-derived porous activated carbon materials are facilely prepared. • Different preparation methods lead to different morphology and porous structure. • They display excellent capacitive behavior in the two- and three-electrode systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]