Colloidal Silica Templated Mesoporous Carbons from a Maltose Solution for Use in Supercapacitor Electrodes

A series of disordered mesoporous carbons (DMC) are synthesized via the colloidal silica template method by varying the mass ratio of silica to maltose from 0.4 to 1.4. A gradual improvement in the surface area and porosity of the DMC is apparent with an increase in the ratio of silica to maltose. The capacitance of the DMCs tends to increase linearly with their surface area. In particular, the DMC synthesized at a mass ratio of 1.4 exhibits the largest surface area of 1,152 m2/g and the highest capacitance of 175.4 F/g, comparable to the capacitance of other porous carbons with large surface areas (>2,000 m2/g). This feature may be attributed to its unique structural properties, such as the high pore interconnectivity allowing for easy access of the electrolyte ions. We believe that a higher capacitive performance can be achieved through further optimization studies (e.g., searching for better carbon precursors and adjusting the mass ratio of silica to carbon precursor).