Ternary modification of polymer-derived carbon from disposable diapers for advanced energy storage: Three birds with one stone

Abstract

In order to improve the energy storage capacity of carbon materials, exploring advanced preparation and modification technologies for carbon materials has always been the primary challenge in this field. Herein, we report a novel and diversified modification strategy for carbon materials, which can simultaneously satisfy pore regulation, catalytic graphitization, and heteroatoms doping. By modifying the carbon materials derived from super absorbent polymer in baby disposable diapers, both supercapacitors and lithium-oxygen batteries have achieved excellent electrochemical performance. In the application of supercapacitors, it shows a large specific capacitance of 384.1 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 and an outstanding ultrastability with a capacitance retention of 99 % over 10,0000 cycles at 20 A g−1. For the application in lithium-oxygen batteries, a high discharge capacity of 13,589 mAh g−1 can be achieved. These attractive electrochemical properties demonstrate enormous potential for practical applications of the as-developed ternary-modified carbon materials.