Issue 22, 2014

Mesoporous size controllable carbon microspheres and their electrochemical performances for supercapacitor electrodes

Abstract

In this paper, size controllable SiO2 nanoparticles synthesized by adjusting the hydrolysis–condensation time and the concentration of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in ethanol–water solution in the presence of ammonia as a catalyst were encapsulated within resorcinol–formaldehyde polymer microspheres which were fabricated in the same ethanol–water–ammonia system. After carbonization and following etching with NaOH solution, a series of mesoporous carbon microspheres (MCMs) with an average diameter of 500 nm, a mesopore size of 3.2–14 nm and surface areas of 659–872 m2 g−1 are obtained. As electrode materials for supercapacitors, typical samples of MCMs with a mesopore size of 3.2 nm and 13.5 nm show an initial specific capacitance of 289 and 268 F g−1 under a current density of 1.0 A g−1. After 10 000 charge–discharge cycles, the specific capacity remains 261 and 254 F g−1 with the retention of 90.3% and 94.7%. Besides, electrochemical performances influenced by the mesopore size were investigated.

Graphical abstract: Mesoporous size controllable carbon microspheres and their electrochemical performances for supercapacitor electrodes

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Jan 2014
Accepted
26 Mar 2014
First published
26 Mar 2014

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014,2, 8407-8415

Author version available

Mesoporous size controllable carbon microspheres and their electrochemical performances for supercapacitor electrodes

X. Ma, L. Gan, M. Liu, P. K. Tripathi, Y. Zhao, Z. Xu, D. Zhu and L. Chen, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014, 2, 8407 DOI: 10.1039/C4TA00333K

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