Issue 22, 2018, Issue in Progress

Rapid transformation of heterocyclic building blocks into nanoporous carbons for high-performance supercapacitors

Abstract

The ever-increasing global energy consumption necessitates the development of efficient energy conversion and storage devices. Nitrogen-doped porous carbons as electrode materials for supercapacitors feature superior electrochemical performances compared to pristine activated carbons. Herein, a facile synthetic strategy including solid-state mixing of benzimidazole as an inexpensive single-source precursor of nitrogen and carbon and zinc chloride as a high temperature solvent/activator followed by pyrolysis of the mixture (T = 700–1000 °C under Ar) is introduced. The addition of ZnCl2 prevents early sublimation of benzimidazole and promotes carbonization and pore generation. The sample obtained under the optimal carbonization temperature of 900 °C and ZnCl2/benzimidazole weight ratio of 2/1 (ZBIDC-2-900) features a moderate specific surface area of 855 m2 g−1, high N-doping level (10 wt%), and a wide micropore size distribution (∼1 nm). ZBIDC-2-900 as a supercapacitor electrode exhibits a large gravimetric capacitance of 332 F g−1 (at 1 A g−1 in 1 M H2SO4) thanks to the cooperative advantages of the electrochemical activity of the nitrogen functional groups and the accessible porosity. The excellent capacitance performance coupled with robust cyclic stability, high yield and straightforward synthesis of the proposed carbons holds great potential for large-scale energy storage applications.

Graphical abstract: Rapid transformation of heterocyclic building blocks into nanoporous carbons for high-performance supercapacitors

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Jan 2018
Accepted
09 Mar 2018
First published
03 Apr 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2018,8, 12300-12309

Rapid transformation of heterocyclic building blocks into nanoporous carbons for high-performance supercapacitors

B. Ashourirad, M. Demir, R. A. Smith, R. B. Gupta and H. M. El-Kaderi, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 12300 DOI: 10.1039/C8RA00546J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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