Optimization of specific capacitance and water splitting efficiency of N-enriched carbon by incorporating oxides of transition metals via an ancient chemical technique

Abstract

Abstract The carbonaceous materials owing to their high natural abundance and operational stability showed significant promise as the replacement of costly noble-metal-based electrode materials in the energy storage and conversion devices. The incorporation of heteroatoms (like N, transition metals etc.) enhances the electrochemical performance of these carbon-based materials. However, significant investigations are still required to develop a facile method for synthesizing heteroatom-incorporated carbon. Herein, an ancient chemical technique was adopted to develop a series of iron and/or nickel oxide incorporated N-enriched carbons within a few seconds. The physicochemical properties of the N-enriched carbon altered when the amount and type of the incorporated metal oxides was regulated. These changes modulated the ion diffusion, double layer formation, substrate adsorption-desorption and charge transfer process in the N-enriched carbons. Incorporation of iron oxide enhanced the charge storage and transfer performance of the N-enriched carbon. The nickel oxide facilitated its substrate adsorption-desorption and charge transfer efficiency in water polarization process. The N-enriched carbon with moderate iron oxide loading showed superior charge storage and OER performance whereas, that with highest loading showed superiority towards the HER. This investigation established the viability of “sugar snake” process as a synthetic technique for developing efficient carbon-based electrode materials.