Activated carbon prepared from water soluble phenol-formaldehyde resin for application in supercapacitor
Water soluble phenol-formaldehyde resin was prepared from phenol and formaldehyde through a two-step alkaline catalytic reaction, and sodium hydroxide was added as catalyst.Mesoporous carbon was obtained by decomposition of the phenol-formaldehyde resin at a high temperature.Then the product was activated in 2.5 mol·L-1 HNO3.Physical properties of the product were characterized by infrared spectrometer (IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and porosity measurements.The results showed that activation resulted in a lower specific surface area and broader pore size distribution.On the other hand, activated carbon treated in HNO3 increased the content of oxygen-containing functional groups, which increased the effective surface area.The activated carbon demonstrated good electrochemical performance in KOH electrolyte.The specific capacitance was approximately 250 F·g-1.