Three types of ordered mesoporous carbon materials with different pore characteristics have been synthesized via different routes. Whatever the synthesis route was, triblock copolymer was employed as both a carbon precursor and a structure-directing agent. The relationship between the capacitances of carbon electrodes and their pore characteristics was elucidated in detail. The material C-P exhibits the lowest resistance and highest specific capacitance value of exceeding 170F/g among these carbon materials, which can be due to not only high surface area but also its appropriate pore size distribution. In addition, the noteworthy is that the maintenance of specific capacitance with increasing current load for each sample is better than that for general activated carbons, where larger mesopores and high mesopore fraction play important roles in the rate capability. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.