Intertwined carbon networks derived from Polyimide/Cellulose composite as porous electrode for symmetrical supercapacitor

Designing intertwined porous structure is highly desirable to improve the electrochemical performance of carbon materials for supercapacitor. In this contribution, three-dimensional (3D) carbonized polyimide/cellulose (CPC) composite is fabricated via a facile "one-step" carbonization, in which cellulose as cross-linked agent is capable of modulating the molecular structure of polyamic acid, thus ensuring the formation of intertwined porous networks in the obtained carbon skeleton. Benefitting from the high specific surface area (951 m2 g-1) and uniformly distributed pores, the optimized CPC-5 electrode exhibits an outstanding specific capacitance of 300F g-1 in 6.0 M KOH electrolyte. More impressively, the CPC-5 based symmetrical supercapacitor affords a high energy density of 22.6 Wh kg-1 at power density of 800 W kg-1, as well as an exceptional capacitance retention of 91.4% after 10,000 cycles. This work affords an effective strategy to yield a promising polyimide derived carbon material for high-performance supercapacitors.