Hierarchical porous carbon with three dimensional nanonetwork from water hyacinth leaves for energy storage

Abstract

Abstract Hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) holds promise for the application of supercapacitors and lithium ion batteries because of its rapid mass transfer capability. In this work, we propose a facie method to prepare a new class of HPCs by choosing water hyacinth leaves (WHL) as the carbon source. The obtained WHL-based HPC possesses an ultrahigh surface area (2959 m g−1) primarily donated by numerous small-sized nanopores on the nanoparticles, and an aerogel-like macroporous structure aggregated by three-dimensionally interconnected nanoparticles. This hierarchically porous structure coupling with the high surface area can simultaneously enable fast ion transfer and provide plentiful active places for energy storage. Consequently, WHL-based HPC demonstrates a much higher capacitance and lithium storage capacity of 256 F g−1 and 590 mAh g−1 compared to commercial activated carbons and graphite, respectively. Meanwhile, the enhanced mass diffusion/transfer endows the obtained HPC with superior high rate performance.