Hard template-assisted N, P-doped multifunctional mesoporous carbon for supercapacitors and hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Nonmetal mesoporous carbon exhibits environment friendliness and low cost, which attract much attention in energy storage and conversion. In this work, a N, P-doped mesoporous carbon (NPMC-T) was synthesized by the SiO2 hard template. The mesoporous structure and high N, P content for NPMC-T are beneficial to expose more active sites and accelerate electron transfer, and contribute to exhibit remarkable electrocatalytic activity for supercapacitors and hydrogen evolution reaction application. NPMC-800 is applied as electrode material for supercapacitors and exhibits high specific capacitance (219 F g−1 at 1 A g−1). Meanwhile, the NPMC-T is used as electrocatalyst for HER and shows the good electrocatalytic performance with small Tafel slope of 52 mV dec−1, low overpotential of 298 mV (10 mA cm−2) than that of most other reported analogous catalysts, and excellent stability (after 2000 cycles). This effective capability of N, P-doped multifunctional mesoporous carbon materials is expected to promote the application in supercapacitors and hydrogen evolution reaction widely. A multifunctional non-metal mesoporous carbon electrocatalysis catalyst NPMC-800 was synthesized by the SiO2 hard template method (BET surface area is 593.1 m2g−1). The mesoporous structure and N, P doping of NPMC-800 exhibited the high specific capacitance of 219 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 for supercapacitors, meanwhile, offered glorious electrocatalytic performance for HER with a low overpotential of 298 mV at 10 mA cm-2 , a small Tafel slope 52 mV dec−1 and the surpassing stability after 2000 cycles under acidic conditions.