Highly mesoporous and high surface area carbon: A high capacitance electrode material for EDLCs with various electrolytes

Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) with high surface area and highly mesoporous structure for electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) have been prepared from polyacrylonitrile fibers by NaOH activation. Their unique microstructural features enable the ACFs to present outstanding high specific capacitance in aqueous, non-aqueous and novel ionic liquid electrolytes, i.e. 371 F g(-1) in 6 mol L-1 KOH, 213 F g(-1) in 1 mol L-1 LiClO4/PC and 188 F g(-1) in ionic liquid composed of lithium bis(trifluoromethane sulfonyl)imide (LiN(SO2CF3)(2), LiTFSI) and 2-oxazolidinone (C3H5NO2, OZO), suggesting that the ACF is a promising electrode material for high performance EDLCs. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.