Relevance of porosity and surface chemistry of superactivated carbons in capacitors

We show, through some examples, that chemical activation by alkaline hydroxides permits the preparation of activated carbons with tailored pore volume, pore size distribution, pore structure and surface chemistry, which are useful for their application as electrodes in supercapacitors. Examples are presented discussing the importance of each of these properties on the double layer capacitance, on the kinetics of the electric double-layer charge-discharge process and on the pseudo-capacitative contribution from the surface functional groups or the addition of a conducting polymer.

The authors would like to thank the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, FEDER and PLAN E funds (MAT2010-15273 and PLE2009-0021) and Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2009/047) for financial support.