碳材料具有不同的微米和纳米结构以及本体和表面的官能基团，因此成为最普遍采用的超级电容器电极材料。典型的例子是活性炭和石墨烯。最近的研究趋势是通过新方法，以传统和新碳源，例如生物质、聚合物、氧化石墨、碳氢以及二氧化碳气体，来制备成本低、电容性能高的活性炭和石墨烯。特别是，大多数新碳源衍生碳非常适用于水系电解液。电荷存储不仅发生在“碳|电解液”界面上(形成双电层)，也依靠本体和表面的官能化带来的氧化还原活性，包括有限离域价电子转移反应。此外，进一步理解电荷存储机制有助于设计出比传统对称电容器具有更高电压和比能量的非等电极电容水系超级电容器。本文综述了新碳源衍生碳材料和器件的最新进展，为超级电容器技术的持续发展助力。
Carbon materials can offer various micro- and nanostructures as well as bulk and surface functionalities; hence, they remain the most popular for manufacturing supercapacitors. This article critically reviews recent developments in the preparation of carbon materials from new precursors for supercapacitors. Typical examples are activated carbon (AC) and graphene, which can be prepared from various conventional and new precursors such as biomass, polymers, graphite oxide, CH4, and even CO2 via innovative processes to achieve low-cost and/or high specific capacitance. Specifically, when producing AC from natural biomasses or synthetic polymers, either new, spent, or waste, popular activation agents, such as KOH and ZnCl2, are often used to process the ACs derived from these new precursors while the respective activation mechanisms always attract interest. The traditional two-step calcination process at high temperatures is widely employed to achieve high performance, with or without retaining the morphology of the precursors. The three-step calcination, including a post-vacuum treatment, is also the preferred choice in many cases, but it can increase the cost per capacity (kWh？g？1). More recently, one-step molecular activation promises a better and more economical approach to the commercial application of AC, although further increase of the yield is necessary. In addition to activation, graphitization, N doping, and template control can further improve ACs in terms of the charging and discharging rates, or pseudocapacitance, or both. Considerations are also given to material structure design, and carbon regeneration during activation. Metal-organic frameworks, which were initially used as templates, have been found to be good direct carbon precursors. Various graphene structures, including powders, films, aerogels, foams, and fibers, can be produced from graphite oxide, CO2, and CH4. Similar to AC, graphene can possess micropores by activation. Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis and molten salt processing are newly-reported methods for fabrication of mesoporous graphene. Macroporous graphene hydrogels can be produced by hydrothermal treatment of graphite oxide suspension, which can also be transferred into films. Hierarchically porous