A simple method for growth of carbon nanotubes on graphite felt was developed using mesoporous silica combining nickel nanoparticles as catalyst and soy bean oil as carbon source. The pre-loaded mesoporous silica on graphite felt substrate provided confined growth site for nickel nanoparticle catalyst and also enhanced the absorption of carbon source onto graphite felt. The synthesized carbon nanotube covered graphite felts were fabricated into "sandwich configuration" electrodes for supercapacitor tests. The composite electrodes exhibited a low electric resistance of about 7.22 Omega per square and an excellent specific capacitance about 316 F/g at a charge/discharge current density of 1 A/g. The composite electrodes demonstrated good cycling stability and no apparent decay of capacitance after 2000 cycles at a high current density of 10 A/g. The excellent performance of carbon felt-carbon nanotube composite electrodes is attributed to its fast charge transfer property and its unique hierarchical micro-structure. (C) 2016 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.