Capacitive behavior of glucose-derived porous activated carbon with different morphologies

Glucose-derived porous activated carbon materials (AGC-600-4 and AGC-180-x) are prepared using ZnCl₂ as the etching agent via impregnation treatment and hydrothermal method followed by the calcination process. The analytic results indicate that the obtained materials exhibit higher specific surface area and superior double-layer capacitive behavior than the corresponding pristine carbon (GC-600 and GC-180) when used as electrode materials for supercapacitors. Moreover, compared with the AGC-600-4 nanosheets, the optimal AGC-180-4 microspheres have a high specific surface area of 1713 m² g⁻¹ and a maximum specific capacitance of 235.9 F g⁻¹ at a current density of 1.0 A g⁻¹ in the three-electrode system. Meanwhile, AGC-180-4 also exhibits better capacitive properties than AGC-600-4 in the two-electrode system, showing an excellent cyclic stability with a high energy density of 24.63 Wh kg⁻¹ at the power density of 949.5 W kg⁻¹. It is thus demonstrated that AGC-180-4 could be ideal electrode materials for supercapacitor due to its unique etched spherical structure and excellent electrochemical properties.