In-built template synthesis of hierarchical porous carbon microcubes from biomass toward electrochemical energy storage

Carbon materials are appealing as electrodes for electrochemical energy storage due to their high surface area and tunable pore structures. In this work, hierarchical porous carbon microcubes (PCM) are synthesized through in-built template method from renewable agaric. Cubic MnO@C composite is obtained by hydrothermal treatment of agaric and subsequent calcination with the presence of manganese source. The in-built MnO-template is sacrificed by acid etching to prepare PCM sample with high specific surface area of 1052 m2 g−1, rational pore size distribution, and self N-doped property. The refined architecture endows PCM sample with significantly improved performance including high specific capacitance, superior rate capability and long-term cyclic stability when employed as electrodes for both lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors. We believe that this work proposes a new concept to construct carbon architecture with well-refined, hierarchical porous structure for electrochemical energy storage.