Corncob cellulose-derived hierarchical porous carbon for high performance supercapacitors

Cellulose texture in biomass is a desired renewable carbon source to prepare activated carbon with abundant porous structure and high specific surface area. However, the cellulose fractionation/separation from biomass is still a challenge. Here, corncob cellulose-derived hierarchical porous carbon has been fabricated successfully via a facile mechanical fragmentation and sieving pretreatment with subsequent carbonization and activation. The microstructural analyses show that the morphologies and textures of the corncob-derived carbon are highly depended on the corncob basic components such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Among the corncobderived carbons, the corncob cellulose-derived hierarchical porous carbon (CPA-35-150) exhibits the largest specific surface area (1940.6 m(2) g(-1)) and decent pore size distribution. Consequently, the high specific capacitance of 208.5 F g(-1) at 1 A g(-1)- and outstanding rate capability are realized. Also, CPA-35-150 shows good cycling stability with 97.2% capacitance retention after 20,000 cycles under 10 A g(-1).

Automated summary

Hierarchical porous carbon derived from corncob cellulose has been successfully fabricated, showing excellent specific surface area and pore size distribution. It exhibits high specific capacitance and outstanding rate capability, as well as good cycling stability after 20,000 cycles.