Molecularly-regulating oxygen-containing functional groups of ramie activated carbon for high-performance supercapacitors

• Published in: Journal of colloid and interface science 2024-07, Vol.665, p.772-779
• Main Authors: Chen, Zhenyu, Chen, Yuyang, Wang, Qing, Yang, Ting, Luo, Qitian, Gu, Kai, Yang, Weiqing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomass-derived activated carbon; Electrochemical performance; Molecular regulation; Oxygen-containing functional groups; Supercapacitors
• ISSN: 0021-9797; 1095-7103
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.03.177

Chen et al. report a molecular regulation strategy to efficiently control the advantageous OCFGs (a-OCFGs: CO and COO) of ramie activated carbon (RAC), revealing the structure–activity relationship of OCFGs with electrochemical performance in supercapacitors. This regulated RAC with a 3.5–folds–enhanced a-OCFGs achieves a supreme specific capacitance of 286.4F g−1 and excellent capacitance retention rate of 89.7%. Also, twice capacitance of this regulated RAC than that of YP-50F shows its commercial viability. [Display omitted] Effectively managing oxygen-containing functional groups (OCFGs) within activated carbon and methodically elucidating their intricate types and proportions are essential for considerably improving the electrochemical performance of carbon-based supercapacitors. Herein, we designed a ZnCl2-based molecular regulation strategy to introduce OCFGs into ramie-activated carbon (RAC), managing different OCFGs and revealing their structure–activity relationship with electrochemical performance. Thus, this regulated RAC, with a 3.5-fold enhancement in advantageous OCFGs (a-OCFGs: CO and COO), exhibits a supreme specific capacitance of 286.4F g−1 at 1 A/g and an excellent capacitance retention rate of 89.7 % at 20 A/g in an aqueous electrolyte, considerably surpassing that of nonregulated RAC (212.0F g−1 and 81.9 %). This confirms that a-OCFGs provide ample ion-storage accommodation and suppress solvent electronic oxidation, thereby enhancing electrochemical performance. Furthermore, its electrochemical performance is competitive with that of the commercial YP-50F (129.2F g−1 at 1 A/g). Therefore, this work not only highlights the contributions of specific OCFGs to high electrochemical performance but also designs a promising commercial electrode material to meet the demands of OCFGs-adequate carbon-based energy storage devices.