Salt template strategy to P doped honeycomb-like carbon with high zinc ion storage performance

As one of the energy storage devices, aqueous zinc ion hybrid capacitors (AZHCs) have been intensively investigated because of their characteristics of high gravimetric capacity, excellent safety and environmental compatibility. Yet, the preparation of highly active electrode materials for AZHCs is still a huge defiance. Herein, the superior energy density and anti-self-discharge AZHCs are achieved based on the P doped honeycomb-like carbons (PHCs) with high surface area, total pore volume and O/P functionalities, which prepared from the triphenyl phosphate by the salt template strategy. The unique structural characteristics of the PHC cathodes not only offer abundant active sites for Zn2+ ion storage, but also supply lots of channels for ion transfer, resulting in rapid ion transport kinetics. Interestingly, the PHC3 cathode presents high capacity of 150.1 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1, big energy and power output of 126.8 Wh kg−1 and 12.19 kW kg−1 and excellent cycle stability with capacity retention of 98.56% after 30,000 cycles. Moreover, the capacity keeps 87.77% of the initial capacity after rested for 250 h. This study offers a facile strategy to prepared carbon cathodes with the heteroatoms for high performance AZHCs. [Display omitted] •P doped honeycomb-like carbon (PHCs) were prepared by salt template strategy.•PHC presents high surface area of 1469.3 m2 g−1 and abundant ion adsorption sites.•High energy density and outstanding anti-self-discharge were obtained.