Zingiber striolatum diels derived O/N dual-doped porous carbon for high performance oxygen reduction reaction and energy storage

Abstract

Biomass-derived porous carbon materials have recently attracted intensive attentions because of the inherent sustainability and renewability of biomass precursors. In this work, a novel biomass-derived, O/N dual-doped porous carbon with twisted cabbage-leaf-like structure is synthesized by directly pyrolyzing the inflorescences of zingiber striolatum diels (ZSD). The obtained porous carbon (ZSD-900) has high specific surface area (1064 m2 g−1) as well as effective O/N dual-doping (7.63 at.% O and 2.72 at.% N). The ZSD-900 used as metal-free ORR electrocatalyst exhibits excellent activity (Eo = −3 mV; E1/2 = −155 mV vs. Ag/AgCl), high methanol and CO tolerance, together with good long-term stability. In addition, the assembled ZSD-900//ZSD-900 symmetric supercapacitor in 1 M Na2SO4 aqueous electrolyte displays high power density (17.4 kW kg−1) and excellent cycling stability (97.8% capacitance retention after 20,000 cycles). The outstanding electrochemical performance demonstrates that ZSD-900 is one of the most promising candidates for efficient ORR catalysts and advanced supercapacitors.