Functionalized activated carbon prepared form petroleum coke with high-rate supercapacitive performance

Petroleum coke (PC) is a low-cost and potential carbon source for electrochemical energy storage. To expand the utilization of PC in supercapacitor, PC-based activated carbons (PCACs) with heteroatoms-doped were prepared from PC by KOH chemical activation. The as-prepared carbon exhibited a high surface area (2326.4 m2/g) and hierarchical micro-mesoporous structure, resulting in a high specific capacitance (421 F/g at 1 A/g) and excellent rate performance in KOH electrolyte (217 F/g at 50 A/g). Meanwhile, to improve the high-rate capacitive performance of PCACs in H2SO4electrolyte, functionalized activated carbon (HQ/PCAC-4) was prepared by physically adsorbing the hydroquinone (HQ) on PCACs. The HQ/PCAC-4 showed an unprecedented capacitance value of 300.2 F/g even at an ultrahigh current density of 50 A/g. In addition, the energy density of HQ/PCAC-4 in H2SO4electrolyte reached 19.5 W h/kg. The high energy density and excellent rate performance ensured their prosperous application in high-power energy storage system.