Hierarchically Designed Three-Dimensional Macro/Mesoporous Carbon Frameworks for Advanced Electrochemical Capacitance Storage

Mesoporous carbon (m‐C) has potential applications as porous electrodes for electrochemical energy storage, but its applications have been severely limited by the inherent fragility and low electrical conductivity. A rational strategy is presented to construct m‐C into hierarchical porous structures with high flexibility by using a carbon nanotube (CNT) sponge as a three‐dimensional template, and grafting Pt nanoparticles at the m‐C surface. This method involves several controllable steps including solution deposition of a mesoporous silica (m‐SiO2) layer onto CNTs, chemical vapor deposition of acetylene, and etching of m‐SiO2, resulting in a CNT@m‐C core–shell or a CNT@m‐C@Pt core–shell hybrid structure after Pt adsorption. The underlying CNT network provides a robust yet flexible support and a high electrical conductivity, whereas the m‐C provides large surface area, and the Pt nanoparticles improves interfacial electron and ion diffusion. Consequently, specific capacitances of 203 and 311 F g−1 have been achieved in these CNT@m‐C and CNT@m‐C@Pt sponges as supercapacitor electrodes, respectively, which can retain 96 % of original capacitance under large degree compression. Hybrid sponge: A rational strategy was developed by using a carbon nanotube (CNT) sponge as a 3D network template to fabricate hierarchical porous CNT@m‐C@Pt core–shell hybrid structures (see picture: blue CNTs, green m‐C (mesoporous carbon), silver Pt nanoparticles). These hybrid sponges show promising applications as high‐performance flexible supercapacitor electrodes.