High performance aqueous supercapacitor based on highly nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres with unimodal mesoporosity

• Published in: Journal of power sources 2017-01, Vol.337, p.189-196
• Main Authors: Sun, Fei, Gao, Jihui, Pi, Xinxin, Wang, Lijie, Yang, Yuqi, Qu, Zhibin, Wu, Shaohua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aqueous supercapacitor; Capacitance; Carbon spheres; Energy density; Nitrogen doping
• ISSN: 0378-7753; 1873-2755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.10.086

Herein, we report a high performance aqueous supercapacitor which is made of highly nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres (NRMCs) with unimodal mesoporosity. An aerosol-assisted spraying process is employed to obtain the nano-sized NRMC particles possessing large surface areas, high pore volumes and ultra-high N doping levels (14.51%–20.55%). Evaluated as supercapacitor electrode, the optimized NRMC exhibits excellent performance for aqueous electrical double layer capacitors with high material-level specific capacitance (432 F g−1 at 1 A g−1), excellent rate performance (205 F g−1 at a high current density of 100 A g−1) and high cycling stability. The constructed symmetric supercapacitor delivers high energy densities of 9.2 Wh kg−1 and 4 Wh kg−1 at power densities of 0.11 kW kg−1 and 23.24 kW kg−1, respectively. Moreover, the effect of N specie distribution on the rate performance is also demonstrated, which highlights the important role of tuning the N doping patterns on enhancing the supercapacitive performances of carbon materials. •N-rich mesoporous carbons are used for high performance aqueous supercapacitor.•High capacitances up to 432 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and 205 F g−1 at 100 A g−1 are achieved.•Symmetric capacitor delivers high energy density and power density.•This work also highlights the importance of tuning the N doping patterns.