Synthesis of spherical mesoporous carbon for electric double-layer capacitors.

Resorcinol and formaldehyde were used as carbon precursors, poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) triblock copolymer was employed as a soft template, and tetraethylorthosilicate-generated silica was used as hard templates to synthesize spherical mesoporous carbon. The resulting spherical mesoporous carbons were characterized by nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms and electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and used as electrode materials for aqueous electric double-layer capacitors. The average diameters of spherical particles ranged from 2 to 7 μm and the mesopore was ca 2 nm. The highest specific surface area of 1,000 m/g and mesopore volume of 0.86 cm/g was obtained. The specific capacitance of 130 F/g was obtained by means of galvanostatic charging/discharging and cycle voltammetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]