nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon nanofibers as flexible freestanding electrodes for high-performance supercapacitors

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Materials for energy and sustainability, 2017-11, Vol.5 (45), p.2362-23627
• Main Authors: Tan, Jian, Han, Yulai, He, Liang, Dong, Yixiao, Xu, Xu, Liu, Dongna, Yan, Haowu, Yu, Qiang, Huang, Congyun, Mai, Liqiang
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/c7ta07024a

Herein we propose a low-cost, one-step synthesis of magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH) 2 ) that is deposited on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers by electrospinning. Following carbonization and etching, an in situ N-doped mesoporous carbon nanofiber (N-MCNF) network is synthesized. The synthesized flexible network is employed as a freestanding electrode for supercapacitors. The as-constructed supercapacitor based on the N-MCNFs prepared at 900 °C (N-MCNFs-900) can deliver excellent performance with an ultrahigh specific capacitance of 327.3 F g −1 at a current density of 1.0 A g −1 , and remarkable cycling stability, e.g. , only about 7% loss after 10 000 cycles at a constant high charging-discharging current of 20 A g −1 in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. The flexible network consisting of N-MCNFs-900 as the electrode material with long cycling stability is highly promising for next-generation high-performance supercapacitors. In situ N-doped mesoporous carbon nanofibers synthesized by depositing magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH) 2 ) into polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers and combining carbonization with etching process exhibit excellent supercapacitive performance.