Supercapacitors based on ordered mesoporous carbon derived from furfuryl alcohol: effect of the carbonized temperature.

Supercapacitors are successfully prepared from ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) synthesized by employing the mesoporous silica, SBA-15 as template and furfuryl alcohol as carbon source. It is found that the carbonized temperature greatly influences the physical properties of the synthesized mesoporous carbon materials. The optimal carbonized temperature is measured to be 600 degrees C under which OMC with the specific surface area of 1219 m2/g and pore volume of 1.31 cm3/g and average pore diameter of - 3 nm are synthesized. The OMC materials synthesized under different carbonized temperature are used as electrode material of supercapacitors and the electrochemical properties of the OMC materials are compared by using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, galvanostatic charge-discharge and self-discharge tests. The results show that the electrochemical properties of the OMC materials are directly related to the specific surface area and pore volume of the mesoporous carbon and the electrode prepared from the OMC synthesized under the carbonized temperature of 600 degrees C (OMC-600) exhibits the most excellent electrochemical performance with the specific capacitance of 207.08 F/g obtained from cyclic voltammetry at the scan rate of 1 mV/s, small resistance and low self-discharge rate. Moreover, the supercapacitor based on the OMC-600 material exhibits good capacitance properties and stable cycle behavior with the specific capacitance of 105 F/g at the current density of 700 mA/g, and keeps a specific capacitance of 98 F/g after 20000 consecutive charge/discharge cycles.