Fabrication of high density and nitrogen-doped porous carbon for high volumetric performance supercapacitors

Abstract

Considering the increasing demands in energy storage systems (ESS), the nitrogen doped porous carbons with high volume properties are urgently needed in practical applications. Herein, we develop a new strategy for the fabrication of the high density and nitrogen-doped porous carbons (DNPCs) via low-temperature pyrolysis of phytic acid (PA)-doped polyaniline (PANI) coated on graphene, representing a high volumetric performance as supercapacitor electrode materials. PA is used to form the graphene oxide/polyaniline (GO/PANI) precursor, protect GO from agglomeration, reduce the porosity and regulate the heteroatoms contents of porous carbon. Benefiting from PA-inducing and low-temperature pyrolysis, the DNPC-500 performs a high volumetric capacitance of 643.7 F cm−3 at 0.5 A g − 1, and outstanding rate performance respectively. In a symmetric supercapacitor, the DNPC-500 device possesses a high volumetric energy density of 14.6 W L − 1 at the power density of 79.8 kW L − 1. Thus, this result exhibits a novel design of high density and nitrogen doped porous carbon materials for supercapacitors.