ZIF-derived mesoporous carbon materials prepared by activation via Na2SiO3 for supercapacitor

N-doped ZIF-derived mesoporous carbon material (NMC) with high specific surface, rich porous structure and excellent electrochemical performance in supercapacitor is prepared by activation method using low-cost Na2SiO3 as activator, which can create rich mesoporous structure and increase specific surface area for the prepared NMC. As well as the carbon precursor of ZIF-8 results to N-doping for NMC. [Display omitted] Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) derived carbonaceous materials have a wide range of applications in the fields of energy storage, catalysis, adsorption and separation, etc. Especially, zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) is an excellent candidate to synthesize porous carbon due to the large surface area and high nitrogen content. However, the dominated microporous structure of ZIF-8-derived carbon significantly hinders ionic mass transfer, limiting the improvement of performance. Herein, MOF-derived mesoporous carbon was prepared using ZIF-8 as carbon precursor and cheap sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) as activator. The introduction of Na2SiO3 created rich mesoporous structure and increased specific surface area, as well as the effects of pyrolysis temperature and Na2SiO3 dosage on performance was also investigated. The obtained ZIF-derived porous carbon exhibits good electrochemical performance with specific capacitance of 263 F/g at 1 A/g and excellent cycle life (96.07% after 10,000 GCD cycles) in supercapacitor. The use of cheap Na2SiO3 activator provides a new orientation for the preparation of MOF-derived carbons with rich pores, high surface area, and facilitates the large-scale application of MOF-derived carbons.