Highly Active Nitrogen-Doped Mesoporous Carbon Materials for Supercapacitors

Supercapacitors have the advantage of high power output, which enables their broad applications in sustainable power supply systems. However, to realize mass production and application, electrode materials with low cost, environmentally friendliness, and long cycle stability are prerequisites. Herein, using glucose and ammonia as the carbon and nitrogen source, respectively, nitrogen-doped mesoporous network-like carbon materials (NMNCs) were obtained by a facile hydrothermal and calcination coupling method. NMNC produced by heat treatment in ammonia atmosphere at 1000°C for 3 h (denoted as NMNC-1000) exhibits an extremely high nitrogen-doped specific surface area (2588.8 m 2 g −1 ) and optimal mesoporous structure, which facilitates mass transport and exposes more active sites. Under the synergistic effect of nitrogen doping and specific surface area, the NMNC-1000 manifests superior electrochemical supercapacitive properties with a high specific capacitance of 195 F g −1 at a charge and discharge current of 0.1 A g −1 in 6 mol L −1 KOH solution as well as capacitance retention rate of 71% to the counterparts. This work provides the design of promising electrode materials for supercapacitors.