A high-performance carbon derived from polyaniline for supercapacitors

Activated carbon derived from rod-shaped polyaniline (the diameter of 170 nm) was synthesized by carbonization and subsequent activation with KOH. The obtained activated carbon exhibits a high specific capacitance (455 F g(-1)) and remarkable rate capability due to its high specific surface area (1976 m(2) g(-1)), narrow pore size distribution (<3 nm) as well as short diffusion length. It is indicated that the promising synthetic method used in this work can pave the way for designing new carbon based materials from different polymers for high-performance energy applications. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.