A self-supporting electrode for supercapacitors prepared by one-step pyrolysis of carbon nanotube/polyacrylonitrile blends

A new type of supercapacitor electrode is reported, prepared by pressing a carbon nanotube/polyacrylonitrile blend and then pyrolyzing the pellet (see Figure). Although their specific 2 1 surface area is very low, e.g., 200 m(2) g(-1), C/C composites demonstrate high 1 values of capacitance, up to 100 F g(-1) The authors propose two explanations for these remarkable values.