Ethylenediamine-Catalyzed Preparation of Nitrogen-Doped Hierarchically Porous Carbon Aerogel under Hypersaline Condition for High-Performance Supercapacitors and Organic Solvent Absorbents

oleh: Jing Gao, Xuan Zhang, Jiaxing Yang, Junxi Zhou, Mingxing Tong, Qiuyang Jin, Fangna Dai, Guohua Li

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2019-05-01

Deskripsi

The simple and cost-efficient preparation of high-performance nitrogen-doped carbon aerogel (N-CA) for supercapacitors and other applications is still a big challenge. In this work, we have presented a facile strategy to synthesize hierarchically porous N-CA, which is based on solvothermal polymerization of phenol and formaldehyde under hypersaline condition with ethylenediamine (EDA) functioning as both a catalyst and a nitrogen precursor. Benefited from the catalytic effect of EDA on the polymerization, the obtained N-CA has a predominant amount of micropores (micropore ratio: 52%) with large specific surface area (1201.1 m<sup>2</sup>&#183;g<sup>&#8722;1</sup>). In addition, nitrogen doping brings N-CA enhanced wettability and reduced electrochemical impedance. Therefore, the N-CA electrode shows high specific capacitance (426 F&#183;g<sup>&#8722;1</sup> at 1 A&#183;g<sup>&#8722;1</sup> in 0.5 M H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>) and excellent cycling stability (104% capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles) in three-electrode systems. Besides, a high energy density of 32.42 Wh&#183;kg<sup>&#8722;1</sup> at 800 W&#183;kg<sup>&#8722;1</sup> can be achieved by symmetric supercapacitor based on the N-CA electrodes, showing its promising application for energy storage. Furthermore, N-CA also exhibits good capacity and long recyclability in the absorption of organic solvents.