The hierarchically porous carbons (HPCs) are prepared by sol-gel self-assembly technology at various surfactant concentrations (from 0 to 0.55 mol L(-1)). The influences of the surfactant (CTAB) concentration on the physical and electrochemical properties of the activated HPCs are investigated by nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm, cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge, cycle life, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and self-discharging in GM KOH electrolyte. The results demonstrate that the concentration of surfactant template is a crucial factor impacting the characteristics of HPCs. With the change of surfactant concentration, the activated HPCs at C(CTAB) = 0.27 mol L(-1) (HPCs-3) shows the largest specific surface area of 689 m(2) g(-1). In addition, the activated HPCs show excellent supercapacitive behaviors and three sections self-discharge mechanism. Especially, the activated HPCs-3 appears superior electrochemical stability, low IR drop of 0.01 V. and the maximum specific capacitance of 272 F g(-1) obtained from cyclic voltammetry at the scan rate of 1 mV s(-1). Moreover, the supercapacitor used the activated HPCs-3 as electrode active material exhibits a specific capacitance of 61 F g(-1) at the current density of 1 A g(-1), and keeps a specific capacitance of 60 F g(-1) after 5000 consecutive charge/discharge cycles. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.