Influence of KOH activation on electrochemical performance of coal tar pitch-based activated carbons for supercapacitor

In this work, the coal tar pitch-based activated carbons (ACs) were prepared by KOH activation for electrode materials of supercapacitor. The effects of activation temperature on electrochemical performance of the ACs were investigated with cyclic voltammogram (CV) measurement. The textural and morphological properties of the ACs were measured by adsorption isotherms and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) analyses, respectively. The experimental results indicated that the specific capacitance of the ACs increased with developing the micropore volume by activation temperature. As a result the specific capacitance of the ACs increased, owing to the development of micro pore volume of the ACs.