Biomass-derived Porous Carbon Materials for Supercapacitor Electrodes: A Review

The development of renewable, cost-efficient, and environmentally friendly electrode materials with excellent performance is urgently needed for improving supercapacitors (SCs). Recently, biomass-derived porous carbons (BPCs) have received increasing attention due to their excellent physical and chemical properties, widespread availability, and low production cost. In this review, the progress in preparing BPCs and the properties of prepared BPCs are presented and discussed. In addition, the applications of BPCs as electrode materials for supercapacitors are also summarized. More importantly, the pore structure and surface properties of BPCs are all determining factors to improve electrochemical performance. Moreover, a high energy density and power density can be pursued by using composites based on BPCs as electrode materials, of which combining transition metallic oxide with BPCs is one of the most attractive selections. Therefore, rational design of BPCs with respect to the supercapacitor's performance should be conducted in the future.