“Win-Win” Structural Engineering of Chinese Herb Residues-Derived Porous Graphitic Carbons: Decoupling the Porosity-Graphitization Antagonism for Ultrahigh-Rate Supercapacitors

Abstract

The antagonism between porosity and graphitization critically limits carbon supercapacitor performance. Here, we demonstrate a structural engineering strategy that converts Sargentodoxa Cuneata residue (SCR) into hierarchically porous graphitic carbons (SCR-HPCs). By precisely regulating biomass precursor porous architecture, this methodology decouples the antagonism between porosity development and graphitization progression in KOH-mediated activation, achieving simultaneous high specific surface area (2465.1 m² g⁻¹) and graphitization (I_D/I_G of 0.73). In 6 m KOH electrolyte, the specific capacitance of the optimized SCR-HPC-900 electrode reaches 415.6 F g⁻¹ at 0.5 A g⁻¹, with a capacitance retention of 75.1% even at an ultra-high current density of 200 A g⁻¹. The fabricated symmetric supercapacitor achieves an energy density of 8.5 Wh kg⁻¹ at a power density of 37 803 W kg⁻¹, retaining over 100.8% of its capacitance after 100 000 cycles. Remarkably, in 1 m TEABF₄/PC organic electrolyte, the supercapacitor achieves maximum energy and power densities of 45.6 Wh kg⁻¹ and 41 750 W kg⁻¹, respectively. This study presents an effective methodology for decoupling the antagonism between porosity and graphitization in conventional processes, offering a new idea for converting biomass waste into high-performance energy storage materials.

Keywords

biomass / high rate performance / KOH activation / porous graphitic carbon / supercapacitors

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2025 The Author(s). Energy & Environmental Materials published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Zhengzhou University.