Optimizing the micropore-to-mesopore ratio of carbon-fiber-cloth creates record-high specific capacitance

摘要

The application of commercial carbon fiber cloth(CFC) in energy storage equipment is limited by its low specific capacitance and energy density. By a simple one-step activation treatment, the specific surface area of CFCs with porous structure can be increased considerably from 3.9 up to 875 m^2/g and the electrochemical properties of CFCs can be improved by three orders of magnitude(1324 mF/cm^2). Moreover,the hydrophobicity of CFCs can be transformed into superhydrophilicity. However, the electrochemical performance of CFCs does not show a positive correlation with specific surface area but have a strong relationship with the hierarchical pore distribution forged by the annealing treatment. Only moderate micropore and mesoporous ratio enables optimizing the electrochemical performance of CFCs.