Carbonization of zinc containing metal-organic frameworks produces porous carbon materials with an interesting linear relationship between the Zn/C ratio of the precursors and the surface area of the resulting carbon materials.

We report the synthesis and characterization of hierarchical porous carbons (HPCs) prepared by direct carbonization of zinc-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and their electrochemical performance as an electrode material for supercapacitors. All the HPCs showed high porosity (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas 1000-1820 m 2 /g) with micro-, meso-, and macropores. The HPC-based electrodes exhibited a high-specific capacitance in the range of 164-203 F/g (scan rate: 10 mV/s), which suggests that these porous carbons may be useful for fabricating supercapacitors. Among the HPCs, HPC-4 with the largest surface area as well as with~1% nitrogen content exhibited the highest specific capacitance, which is comparable with those of other reported carbon materials. This work suggests that the hierarchical porosity and nitrogen doping in HPCs may enhance their conductivity and specific capacitance.