Facile Activation of Commercial Carbon Felt as a Low-Cost Free-Standing Electrode for Flexible Supercapacitors

High cost, low capacitance, and complicated synthesis process are still the key limitations for carbon-negative materials to meet their industrial production and application in high-energy-density asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs). In this work, we demonstrate the facile preparation of ultrahigh-surface-area free-standing carbon material from low-cost industrial carbon felt (CF) and its application for flexible supercapacitor electrode with outstanding performance. Through a simple freeze-drying-assisted activation method, the as-prepared activated CF (ACF) was endowed with satisfactory flexibility, ultrahigh specific surface area of 2109 m2 g–1, good electric conductivity (311 S m–1), and excellent wettability to aqueous electrolyte. Owing to these merits, the ACF expressed an ultrahigh areal capacitance of 1441 mF cm–2, a high specific capacitance (Cs) of 280 F g–1 based on the mass of the whole electrode, and an impressive cycling stability (87% retention after 5000 cycles). When applied as a flexible freestanding electrode for MnO2//ACF ASCs, the ACF-based device provided satisfactory areal energy densities of 0.283 and 0.104 mWh cm–2 in aqueous and quasi-solid electrolytes, respectively. The values outperform many previously reported carbon-based electrochemical devices. The low cost of raw material and the facile fabrication process, together with the high electrochemical performance, make our ACF electrode highly applicable for the mass production of flexible energy-storage devices.