Cellulose dissolution strategy modulates hierarchical porous structure of biomass derived carbon for supercapacitors

The vast majority of biomass derived carbon is prepared using a top-down process, however, this process lacks the freedom to design the microstructure of the derived carbon. To address this shortcoming, this study proposes a special bottom-up preparation strategy based on cellulose dissolution and breaks away from the constraints of the top-down preparation process. Research shows that this special preparation strategy can regulate the microscopic pore structure of derived carbon for application in supercapacitors. The target sample not only possesses excellent specific capacitance (512 F g −1 at 1 A g −1 ) and rate performance (71.1 % capacitance retention at 20 A g −1 ) in the three-electrode system, but also exhibits outstanding energy density (37.7 Wh kg −1 at 750 W kg −1 ) and cycle stability (capacity loss is 5.8 % after 5000 cycles) in the symmetric full capacitor. These exciting results herald the potential of the special preparation strategy proposed in this study to prepare high-quality biomass derived carbon suitable for supercapacitors.