Asphalt-Derived Hierarchically Porous Carbon with Superior Electrode Properties for Capacitive Storage Devices

Active carbon with hierarchical pore structure (HPC) is prepared in mass using asphalt as carbon precursor by a template-directed method. The as-prepared HPC exhibits excellent capacitive energy-storage capacities on a symmetric supercapacitor (140 Fg(-1) at 0.5 Ag-1) and Li-ion capacitor (LIC) using HPC as both cathode and anode (340 Fg(-1) at 0.5 Ag-1), as well as long cyclability for a supercapacitor (no capacity loss after 15000 cycles) and LIC (91.3% capacitance retention after 10000 cycles). The superior energy and power densities are 202 Wkg(-1) and 15398 Whkg(-1), respectively. The hierarchical pore structure in combination with the existence of heteroatoms originated from the carbon precursor ensure the conductivity for the delivery of electrolyte ions and electrons, greatly contributing to the high capacitance and the excellent cycle performance. This work provides a very promising opportunity for high-capacitive energy storage devices by means of the high value-added utilization of asphalt.