Electrochemical performance of hierarchical porous carbon materials obtained from lignin infiltration of zeolite templates

摘要

Carbon materials are interesting electrochemical capacitor electrodes due to their low cost, high specific surface area and good electrical conductivity among other reasons. Nanostructured carbons with hierarchical pore arrangement, known as hierarchical porous carbons (HPCs), are considered as one of the most adequate electrode materials for high performance electrochemical capacitors. They have shown outstanding behavior for high power applications because of the different ranges of interconnected pores.Unfortunately, their preparation methods relies on the use of several steps, a precise control of the preparation conditions and the use of non-cheap carbon precursors, that must be dissolved sometimes in organic, toxic solvents. In order to make HPCs commercially and environmentally viable, it is important to either simplify the procedures, reducing energy and time consuming steps, or reduce the cost and toxicity of the raw materials.