It is a challenge to synthesize low-cost carbon materials with abundant pores by a simple route for supercapacitors. Herein, layered microporous carbons (LMPCs) with the specific surface area up to 1865 m(2) g(-1) are fabricated from coal tar and melamine via a directing, space-confinement and self-sacrificed template strategy coupled with in-situ KOH activation. The button-type supercapacitor fabricated from LMPCs exhibits a high specific capacitance of 274 F g(-1) at 0.05 A g(-1), a good rate performance of 191 F g(-1) at 20 A g(-1) and a superior cycle stability with 98.8% capacitance retention after 10000 cycles. This work presents a facile strategy for mass production of LMPCs from liquid polycyclic hydrocarbon molecules for supercapacitors. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.