Mechanochemistry-assisted synthesis of hierarchical porous carbons applied as supercapacitors

Abstract

A solvent-free synthesis of hierarchical porous carbons is conducted by a facile and fast mechanochemical reaction in a ball mill. By means of a mechanochemical ball-milling approach, we obtained titanium(IV) citrate-based polymers, which have been processed via high temperature chlorine treatment to hierarchical porous carbons with a high specific surface area of up to 1814 m2 g-1 and well-defined pore structures. The carbons are applied as electrode materials in electric double-layer capacitors showing high specific capacitances with 98 F g-1 in organic and 138 F g-1 in an ionic liquid electrolyte as well as good rate capabilities, maintaining 87% of the initial capacitance with 1 M TEA-BF4 in acetonitrile (ACN) and 81% at 10 A g-1 in EMIM-BF4.