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Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped porous carbon materials with excellent electrochemical performance were prepared using a one-step carbonization and activation method.

A template-free strategy was designed to prepare hierarchical porous carbons (HPCs) using fluid catalytic cracking oil modified a coal tar pitch (CTP). The resulting HPCs possess large specific surface areas, reasonable pore size distributions, and wrinkled structures, which could improve the overall electrochemical performance. They exhibit a specific capacitance value of 329 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 and still maintain 220 F g−1 at 20 A g−1, manifesting the remarkable rate capability. Additionally, the assembled symmetrical supercapacitor delivers a highest energy density of 23.6 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 500 W kg−1 and outstanding cycle stability of 92.8% capacitance retention after 10000 cycles. This work paves a new way to fabricate advanced carbon materials from low-cost CTP and provides a promising approach for value-added utilization of CTP.