Synthesis of Ultrathin Nitrogen-Doped Graphitic Carbon Nanocages as Advanced Electrode Materials for Supercapacitor

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 5; no. 6; pp. 2241 - 2248
• Main Authors: Tan, Yueming, Xu, Chaofa, Chen, Guangxu, Liu, Zhaohui, Ma, Ming, Xie, Qingji, Zheng, Nanfeng, Yao, Shouzhuo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 27.03.2013
• Subjects: aqueous solutions; capacitance; carbon; Carbon - chemistry; carbonization; Electric Capacitance; electrochemistry; Electrodes; Electronics; Manganese Compounds - chemistry; nanoparticles; Nanostructures - chemistry; Nitrogen - chemistry; Oxides - chemistry; porosity; potassium hydroxide; standard operating procedures; sulfuric acid; surface area; temperature; pseudocapacitance; carbon nanocage; polyaniline; nitrogen-doped carbon; supercapacitor
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/am400001g

Synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbons with large surface area, high conductivity, and suitable pore size distribution is highly desirable for high-performance supercapacitor applications. Here, we report a novel protocol for template synthesis of ultrathin nitrogen-doped graphitic carbon nanocages (CNCs) derived from polyaniline (PANI) and their excellent capacitive properties. The synthesis of CNCs involves one-pot hydrothermal synthesis of Mn3O4@PANI core–shell nanoparticles, carbonization to produce carbon coated MnO nanoparticles, and then removal of the MnO cores by acidic treatment. The CNCs prepared at an optimum carbonization temperature of 800 °C (CNCs-800) have regular frameworks, moderate graphitization, high specific surface area, good mesoporosity, and appropriate N doping. The CNCs-800 show high specific capacitance (248 F g–1 at 1.0 A g–1), excellent rate capability (88% and 76% capacitance retention at 10 and 100 A g–1, respectively), and outstanding cycling stability (∼95% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles) in 6 M KOH aqueous solution. The CNCs-800 can also exhibit great pseudocapacitance in 0.5 M H2SO4 aqueous solution besides the large electrochemical double-layer capacitance. The excellent capacitance performance coupled with the facile synthesis of ultrathin nitrogen-doped graphitic CNCs indicates their great application potential in supercapacitors.