Porous carbons prepared from deoiled asphalt and their electrochemical properties for supercapacitors

Abstract Porous carbon was prepared from deoiled asphalt by conventional NaOH activation process and by the combination of nano-sized MgO template method and NaOH activation process. The electrochemical properties used as supercapacitors electrode material were evaluated in 7 M KOH aqueous solution. Porous carbon sample obtained by NaOH activation possessed more micropores and higher specific surface area, resulting in a higher specific capacitance of 235 F g − 1 at low charge–discharge current of 50 mA g − 1 . For the combination method, the resultant carbons possessed higher capacitance and good capacitance maintaining at high current, with a capacitance of nearly twice as that of the former at current density of 10 A g − 1 , due to their abundant mesopores.