Plasma-Enhanced Salt-Templated Nanoarchitectonics of Poplar-Based Carbon Material into Hierarchical Micromesopore Frameworks for High-Performance Supercapacitor Electrodes

To address the small specific surface area and poor rate capability performance of current wood-based carbon materials, this study relies on the natural pores of wood itself to build an efficient interconnected ion transport network. The pretreatment of direct-current (DC) arc discharge at high temperatures and the salt template method were adopted jointly to stabilize the base and fill the pores, thereby realizing the precise control of the internal structure of wood. In addition, starting from the pits on the walls of longitudinally arranged channels in wood, a way is developed to achieve an artificial customized pore structure and construct wood-based carbon materials with a suitable micro/mesopore ratio. The optimal composite electrode has a high specific capacitance of 159.07 F g –1, a high specific surface area of 575 m 2 g –1, and excellent cyclic stability with a capacitance retention of up to 96.5% after 10,000 cycles. It is expected that this pore-making technology combining high-temperature discharge and a green inorganic salt solid base will open an avenue for exploring the effective performance improvement of biomass-based carbon materials. The DC arc discharge method also provides a direction for the capacitance improvement of electrode materials and inspirations for the design of green, simple, and efficient electrode preparation methods with great reproducibility. This research is of great significance for promoting the development and application of supercapacitor electrodes.