Facile hydrothermal synthesis of N-doped commercial activated carbon for zinc ion hybrid supercapacitor

Abstract

A one-step hydrothermal method was employed to treat commercial activated carbon (AC) with sodium azide as the nitrogen source. The characterizations confirmed the successful incorporation of N dopant into the surface of commercial activated carbon (NAC) and the specific surface area increased to 1739 m2·g−1, which indicates that nitrogen-doped activated carbon has excellent properties in ion adsorption and electron transfer. An NAC-based aqueous zinc ion hybrid supercapacitor (ZHS) is fabricated and shows a specific capacity of 232.4 mA·h·g−1 and an energy density of 232.4 Wh·kg−1 at 0.1 A·g−1 with a voltage window of 2.0 V and long-term GCD stability up to 10,000 cycles. Considering the low-cost raw materials and surface modification at a relatively low temperature, the proposed technical route can be viewed as a promising method for the modification of carbon-based materials and application in next-generation energy storage devices.