Simple synthesis of porous carbon sheet by reduction reaction of in-situ formed carbon dioxide for supercapacitor application

Abstract Porous carbon sheet (PCS) was prepared by reduction reaction between NaBH 4 and the in-situ formed CO 2 gas from the thermal-decomposition of NaHCO 3 under inert atmosphere. During this preparation process, NaHCO 3 also could be used as the activation agent and increases the specific surface area of carbon materials. The obtained PCS has a specific surface area of 828 m 2 /g. At a current density of 0.5 A/g, the specific capacitance of the PCS electrode is 201 F/g. Furthermore, the PCS electrode exhibits excellent rate capability (80% capacitance retention at 15 A/g) and superior cycling stability. These results suggest a facile and environmental benign method to prepare economical and high quality porous carbon sheet materials for energy storage applications.