Synthesis of wood derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon–polyaniline composites for supercapacitor electrode materials

Abstract

This paper reports the first wood derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon–polyaniline (NKWC–PANI) composites, prepared with low-cost, environmentally friendly, and renewable wood wastes as raw materials, for supercapacitor electrode materials. Benefiting from high electrochemical activity of wood derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon (NKWC) and the synergetic effect between NKWC and polyaniline (PANI) particles, the electrode with the as-obtained NKWC–PANI composite as active material exhibits significantly higher specific capacitance than the electrodes based on pure NKWC and PANI. Moreover, this novel NKWC–PANI composite also shows comparable maximum specific capacitance (347 F g⁻¹ at 2 A g⁻¹) and energy density (44.4 W h kg⁻¹ at 922 W kg⁻¹) to some similar carbon–PANI composites. This work offers a promising method to produce carbon based composite electrode materials with high performance and low cost.