Mesoporous Carbon Research Articles

Morphology-controlled mesoporous core–shell carbon nanospheres decorated with Cu nanoparticles as highly efficient and reusable catalyst

Environmental pollution caused by industrial waste has recently become a serious issue. Therefore, effective pollutant removal using nanotechnology is required, in which catalysts based on precious metals, such as Pt, Ag, Au, and Pd, are widely utilized. However, the manufacturing costs of precious metal catalysts are high. In this study, copper, a promising metal for catalysis, is evaluated as an alternative to precious metal catalysts because of its low cost, high efficiency, and abundant natural reserves. However, nanoparticle agglomeration is problematic when evaluating the catalytic performance of isolated metal nanoparticles. To solve this problem and maintain a high catalytic activity of Cu, in this study, Cu was loaded on a mesoporous carbon support derived from a carbon precursor with a core–shell structure. The core–shell-structured carbon precursor was obtained by coating resorcinol-formaldehyde polymer spheres as the core with a 50 nm thick polydopamine shell with 10 nm mesopores through π–π stacking interactions. A copper precursor was used to form Cu(OH)2 on the surface of the support, and then the nanocomposite was synthesized at 500 °C for 2 h. The synthesized copper-carbon nanocomposite exhibits high catalytic activity owing to its high specific surface area, porosity, and accessible internal space. It exhibits excellent catalytic activity and stability, along with excellent reusability, in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol using NaBH4. Moreover, excellent catalytic activity, exceeding 99 %, was achieved in the reduction of another organic dye, methylene blue.

Molecular-level Modulation of N, S-Co-Doped Mesoporous Carbon Nanospheres for Selective Aqueous Catalytic Oxidation of Ethylbenzene.

Selective oxidation of aromatic alkanes into high value-added products through benzylic C-H bond activation is one of the main reactions in chemical industry. On account of the constantly increasing demand for mass production, efficient, eco-friendly and sustainable catalysts are urgently needed. Herein, we describe a facile and versatile emulsion-assisted interface self-assembly strategy towards molecular-level fabrication of co-doped mesoporous carbon nanospheres with controllable active N and S species. The method enables a high degree of control over nanoparticle sizes, mesoporous nanostructures, contents of heteroatoms and the chemical composition. The optimized catalyst exhibits high catalytic performance of 97 % ethylbenzene conversion and 98 % selectivity to acetophenone. Density functional theory simulations reveal that N, S-co-doping leads to the redistribution of charge and spin densities, introducing more active carbon atoms and realizing aerobic oxidation of ethylbenzene efficiently. This work presents a general strategy for molecular-level design of carbon-based catalysts, and also provides new insight into the influence of heteroatom-doping on catalytic properties.

Ordered mesoporous silica and carbon as controlled release systems for cephalexin: Influence of surface modification and porosity

Ordered mesoporous silica and carbon as controlled release systems for cephalexin: Influence of surface modification and porosity

Synthesis and Characterisation of Porous Carbide-derived Carbon from SiC in Molten Salt

Aims: In this paper, we aimed to prepare SiC-CDC with porous structure from SiC precursor by using simple molten salt electrochemical etching method at 900 ºC in argon at an applied constant voltage of 3.0 V. Background: Nanoporous materials include carbon materials, silica or alumina, gel, and zeolite, which have been known since ancient times. Among all these materials, carbon materials are particularly outstanding. In recent years, carbide-derived carbon (CDC), a type of unconventional carbon material produced by selectively extracting metal elements from the lattice of carbides, has attracted increasing attention from researchers. Many different methods have now been proposed to prepare CDC, among these methods, currently the preparation of mesoporous carbide-derived carbon (CDCs) materials mainly relies on chlorination. The main problems with chlorination are the corrosion of chlorine gas and the treatment of secondary products (MClx). Therefore, the search for environmentally friendly strategies for the production of CDC is still ongoing. Objective: This article proves that we can successfully prepare SiC-CDC with porous structure from SiC precursor by using simple molten salt electrochemical etching method at 900ºC in argon at an applied constant voltage of 3.0 V. Methods: The SiC-CDC with porous structure has been prepared from SiC precursor by using simple molten salt electrochemical etching method at 900ºC in argon at an applied constant voltage of 3.0 V. Results: The results show that the nanoporous SiC-CDC was successfully synthesized from the silicon carbide microspheres powder via by electrolysis in molten CaCl2 at 3.0 V, 900°C for 15 h. Conclusions: The nanoporous SiC-CDC was successfully synthesized from the silicon carbide microspheres powder via by electrolysis in molten CaCl2 at 3.0 V, 900°C for 15 h and their microstructure, specifc surface area, and pore size were analyzed. The SiCCDC obtained in this experiment mainly consisted of amorphous carbon and maintained the shape of SiC particles. The SiC-CDC is a mixture of amorphous carbon and ordered graphite phase with a highly degree of graphitization. The SiC-CDC displays a BET specific surface area of 561.39 m2/g and a total pore volume of 0.39 cm3/g. This method to produce SiC-CDC is very attractive because it will not only pave a new way for the preparation of SiC-CDC but also for mass production of high-quality carbon material.

Reusable metal-free mesoporous carbon-catalyzed reductive N-formylation of nitroarenes and quinolines

The high-value transformation of nitrogen-containing compounds through a facile, cost-effective, and eco-friendly one-pot strategy holds significant importance. However, this process typically involves the use of metal catalysts and is limited by low activity as well as the requirement of high temperature and pressure. Herein, we describe a general and efficient metal-free N-doped mesoporous carbon material using well-defined ligand 1,10-phenanthroline as the precursor and silica colloid as the hard template. Formic acid is both a reducing agent and a formylation reagent, and structurally distinct mono- or multi-substituted nitroarenes and quinolines can be selectively N-formylation in a one-pot method. The catalyst can be easily recovered without observable loss of efficiency for ten consecutive uses. The control experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that formic acid mainly obtains active hydrogen in the form of O–H bond cleavage, which benefits from the strong adsorption and enhanced activity generated by the interaction between graphitic nitrogen species in the catalyst and formic acid. The excellent catalytic performance of the meso-phen-X catalyst is attributed to the synergistic effect of graphitic N and large specific surface area, providing a promising method for the development of non-metallic catalyst-modified carbon materials.

Carbon dioxide and nitrate reduction reactions tailoring kinetics over Cu2O with mesoporous carbon channels for boosting electrocatalytic urea synthesis

The electrocatalytic synthesis of urea from CO2 and NO3-, powered by renewable electricity, constitutes a sustainable and attractive method, alternative to Haber-Bosch process. However, the much lower kinetic rate of carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) compared to that of nitrate reduction reaction (NO3RR) on Cu-based catalyst leads to low urea yield and Faradaic efficiency. Herein, we report aerophilic nanocomposites of hydrophobic mesoporous carbon (CMK-3) and Cu2O nanocubes to tailor the microenvironment on the surface of Cu2O for matching the kinetics of both CO2 and NO3- reduction reactions and boosting urea yield. The electrochemical experiments showed that the Cu2O/CMK-3 with hydrophobic groups blocked the NO3RR, accelerated CO2 diffusion, and effectively balanced the reduction rates of CO2RR and NO3RR, resulting in a high urea yield of 46.9 mmol h−1 g−1, which was about twice of that over Cu2O. The operando ATR-SEIRAS spectroscopy results revealed that mesoporous carbon promoted the reduction of CO2 to *CO and optimized the amounts of *CO and *NH adsorbed on the surface of Cu2O, thus facilitating the C-N coupling reaction.

A DNA sensor based on CbAgo effector protein and on a dual electrochemical signal amplification strategy for B19 parvovirus detection

Human parvovirus B19 is a prevalent childhood infectious virus that poses a great challenge to public health, so the detection of B19V is of great importance. In this study, a DNA sensor based on CbAgo, a Cas effector, and a dual electrochemical signal amplification strategy was developed by using a novel nanocomposite MnO2/CMK-3/g-C3N4/AgNPs for initial signal amplification, with CMK being an ordered mesoporous carbon nanomaterial. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were used as electrocatalytic probes for secondary signal amplification to detect B19 DNA. The detection process begins with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using the B19V infectious clone plasmid (pB19-M20) as a template and NS1-F/R as primers, followed by specific cleavage of B19 DNA based on the programmable cutting sites of CbAgo effector protein. This study enriches the application of Argonaute proteins in sensing and introduces a novel method to detect B19V. Under optimized conditions, the biosensor can detect B19 DNA in the range of 10−15–10−10 M, with a detection limit (LOD) of 0.2 fM. The results indicate that the developed DNA sensor holds promise for reliable and sensitive detection of B19 DNA in human serum.

Synergistic Fe/Fe3C@Fe‐NC@Carbon Nanotube Heterostructure for Enhanced CO2 Capture and Mineral Recovery from Desalination Brine

AbstractMetal recovery coupled with CO2 mineralization from sustainable sources, such as seawater, has garnered significant attention from environmental science and resource utilization perspectives. Herein, an earth‐abundant and efficient Fe/Fe3C@Fe‐N‐codoped carbon@carbon nanotube (Fe/Fe3C@Fe‐NC@CNT) hybrid cathodic catalyst is introduced for electrochemically extracting magnesium and calcium from desalination brine while capturing CO2 to produce valuable Mg(OH)2 and CaCO3. The Fe/Fe3C@Fe‐NC@CNT, featuring the combination of single‐atomic Fe sites and graphitic layer‐wrapped Fe/Fe3C nanoparticles encapsulated within N‐doped mesoporous carbon tubes, achieves over 90% of Ca2+ and Mg2+ metal cations recovery efficiency at 25 mA cm−2 for 6 h. More importantly, the Fe/Fe3C@Fe‐NC@CNT hybrid catalyst efficiently suppresses the competitive hydrogen evolution side reaction even at high currents and boasts a wider operating potential range compared to benchmark Pt/C, enhancing the metal recovery efficiency and CO2 capture capability. These findings underscore the potential of the Fe/Fe3C@Fe‐NC@CNT hybrid catalyst in revolutionizing brine management and waste stream handling, offering a promising and sustainable solution to these critical environmental challenges.

Yolk-shell structured FeS0.5Se0.5@N-doped mesoporous carbon composite as high-performance lithium-ion battery anodes

Transition metal selenides/sulfides are drawing growing attention as promising electrode material for lithium-ion batteries owing to their larger layer spacing and weaker ionic bond compared to transition metal oxides, which are conducive to the intercalation/de-intercalation of Li ions. However, the intrinsic low conductivity and large volume expansion remain a major obstacle for their practical applications. In this work, with the prediction help of the theory model, we design a yolk-shell structure of single-phase ternary FeS0.5Se0.5 and nitrogen-doped mesopore carbon (YS-FeS0.5Se0.5@NMC) via an interfacial co-assembly, followed by one-step selenization and vulcanization. In the composite, single-phase ternary FeS0.5Se0.5 yolk provides more active sites and faster ion/electron transport dynamics than binary Fe2O3, while N-doped mesoporous carbon shell effectively alleviates the large volume expansion of FeS0.5Se0.5, as revealed by in-situ Raman analysis and TEM observation. Meanwhile, the spatial confinement of outer carbon shell also ensures the mechanical stability of the electrode during cycles. These merits endow the YS-FeS0.5Se0.5@NMC anode with a high reversible capacity of 1417mA h/g at 200mA h/g after 120 cycles, and an exceptional rate capability. This work offers an inspired approach for achieving high-performance energy storage electrode materials

Sulfur vacancy-rich ZnS on ordered microporous carbon frameworks for efficient photocatalytic CO2 reduction

ZnS has garnered significant attention as a versatile photocatalyst in the field of CO2 reduction. However, its photocatalytic efficiency has been hindered by its high charge recombination rates and sluggish reaction kinetics. Herein, we demonstrate a highly efficient CO2 photoreduction on well-designed S-deficient ZnS nanoparticles within an ordered mesoporous N-doped carbon framework (Vs-ZnS/OMNC) through an in situ thermal treatment strategy. The fs-TA spectrum elucidated that introducing sulfur vacancy (Vs) effectively promoted the separation of photogenerated charges in ZnS/OMNC and significantly improved its reaction kinetics. In situ DRIFTS spectroscopy and DFT calculations revealed that these S vacancies led to charge accumulation on neighboring Zn atoms, enabling effective adsorption and activation of CO2 molecules. Particularly, the vacancy strategy also effectively lowered the energy barrier for forming the key intermediate *COOH. Therefore, the CO evolution rate of Vs-ZnS/OMNC reached 712.1 μmol·g−1·h−1, which is 2.84 times higher than that without sulfur vacancy (250.74 μmol·g−1·h−1). Its CO2 reduction performance surpassed most ZnS-based photocatalysts reported previously. Additionally, the Vs-ZnS/OMNC exhibited outstanding stability without obvious degradation after five reaction cycles. This study provides insights into developing advanced photocatalysts through vacancy defect engineering combined with ordered mesoporous carbon structures.

Nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon for high-performance zinc-iodine batteries

Iodine-based aqueous zinc ion (Zn-I2) batteries have received wider attention due to their excellent electrochemical reversibility, low cost and environmental friendliness. In this work, we report a polymeric nanocomposite with great potential for zinc-ion (Zn-I2) water battery. Nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (NMC) was prepared using phenol, formaldehyde and melamine by a simple and easy sol–gel technique. The rich-pore structure is conducive to improving the adsorption effect of iodine and accelerating the wetting of electrolyte, ensuring the stability of battery during cycling process. The NMC/I2 cathode material exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, which ensure rapid equilibration of iodine adsorption and dissolution in the electrolyte, showing 80.7 % capacity retention and 91mAh g−1 reversible specific capacity after 100 cycles at 0.1 A g-1.

Production and characterization of biochar and modified biochars by carbonization process of bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi. L.): Adsorption capacities and kinetic studies of Pb2+, Cd2+ and rhodamine B removal from aqueous solutions

In this work, Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi L.) leaves and twigs were used as novel biomass source for production of biochar and modified biochars (manufacturing of microporous and mesoporous carbons by physical and chemical activations, using CO2 and H3PO4) via one-step carbonization (800 °C) with excellent physicochemical properties, for effective removal of Pb2+ and Cd2+ ions, and synthetic dye (Rhodamine B - RhB) from aqueous solutions. Results showed that carbonized (BL-C) and physically activated carbons (BL-CO2) as microporous adsorbents (specific surface areas 219.0 m2/g and 305.5 m2/g) show remarkable removal efficiency of Pb2+ (99.8 % and 99.9 %, for BL-C and BL-CO2), while these adsorbents showed moderate affinity for Cd2+ elimination (53.5 % and 48.5 %). BL-H3PO4 as mesoporous adsorbent with lower specific surface and larger pores (90.2 m2/g with Dmax = 33.6 nm), shows very good removal efficiency of PhB (~ 87 %). It was found that physical adsorption occurs during RhB removal onto BL-H3PO4, where dominant mechanism represents film diffusion, with reduced boundary layer effect. Adsorption process takes place over π–π, hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. Adsorption processes of Pb2+ and Cd2+ onto BL-CO2 and BL-C take place via physical and chemical adsorption, but with different type of mechanism, including combination of diffusion and chemisorption (increased effect of boundary layer) and intra-particle diffusion (greatly reduced boundary layer effect), respectively. A very interesting fact found in this study, is that metal oxide surfaces (as Cu2O, SiO2, ZnO present in activated carbons) exhibit an efficient binding towards cadmium, providing physisorption capability onto non-metallic graphene features.

Tin oxide nanoparticles anchored on ordered mesoporous carbon for efficient acetone sensing

Rationally designed combinations of semiconductor metal oxides (SMO) and carbon materials can lead to the development of sensing materials with excellent gas performance. Herein, SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs) decorated on ordered mesoporous carbon (CMK-3) nanorods were synthetized by solvothermal and high-temperature calcination methods. Various characterization and gas sensing tests indicated that the resulting one-dimensional (1D) self-assembled SnO2@CMK-3 composite had a large specific surface area (88.02 m2/g) and excellent gas sensing performance. Specifically, at optimal working temperature, the as-prepared SnO2@CMK-3 sensor had a high response (122.1), low limit of detection, good linear fitting (R2 = 0.9892), rapid response/recovery time (5/27 s) towards 50 ppm acetone. Meanwhile, by detecting six gases, including acetone, ammonia, formaldehyde, xylene, triethylamine, and ethanol, it was found that the SnO2@CMK-3 sensor showed good selectivity to acetone. The unique nanostructure, large specific surface area, high oxygen vacancy content, and the formation of heterojunctions accounted for the good performance to acetone. These results highlighted the potential application of the SnO2@CMK-3 composite for the detection of acetone gas and presented a promising approach to prepare SMO@carbon composites for VOCs detection.

Synthesis of oxygen-rich carbon materials as metal-free catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in seawater electrolyte

Compared to conventional aqueous metal-air batteries, seawater batteries provide a promising strategy for the sustainable energy conversion and storage systems. However, the intricate ionic environment of seawater, in particular, Cl− significantly restraint the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of the catalysts. Herein, mesoporous carbon materials with abundant oxygen-containing functional groups were simply fabricated as the cost-effective catalysts from the biowaste Ginkgo biloba, exhibiting prominent stability and ORR activity with a 4e− path selectivity up to 92 % in seawater electrolyte. Structure characterization and ORR experimental results indicated the ORR performance was significantly modulated by the C-O-C in carbon matrix, and the synergistic of C-O-C and N-containing configuration may further enhance the dissociation of O-O of ∗OOH, resulting in an optimized 4e− path selectivity. Additionally, the Ginkgo biloba derived catalysts displayed an overpotential of 580 mV for at 10 mA/cm2 more negative than that of the previously reported commercial Ir/C in seawater electrolyte. This study highlights the synthesis of sustainable and cost-effective catalysts for seawater batteries, offering a strategy for designing metal-free catalysts of seawater battery, and promoting the advancement of sustainable energy conversion and storage technologies.

Regulating and Unraveling Electrochemical Behavior of Hierarchically‐Densifying Mesoporous Apocynum Carbon for High performance Supercapacitor

AbstractThe commercial carbon‐based supercapacitor with high power ability (~5 kW kg−1) is still unable to fulfill the superhigh power requirement of specific power‐type equipments (>20 kW kg−1), such as rail transit facilities, electromagnetic and laser equipment. To unravel the structure‐activity relationship and electrochemical behavior of power‐type densifying carbon is a key to overcome the contradiction of the suitable mesoporous ratio and highly‐densifying features toward the superhigh power requirement. Here, we built the hierarchically‐densifying mesoporous apocynum carbon (HDMC) with optimized mesoporous ratio by hierarchical activation method. More importantly, both the isothermal desorption/adsorption and high‐pressure mercury intrusion porosimetry methods were employed to synergistically uncover the microscopic surface carbon network stacking mechanism and the macroscopic carbon skeleton densification assembly mechanism. The highly‐densifying skeleton features and high mesoporous ratio properties were proved to be co‐existed in HDMC, which is in favour of rapidly ion/electron transferring toward electrochemically‐improving power behavior of HDMC. A combination of high tap density (0.387 g cm−3) and ideal microporous‐mesoporous system (23.1 % proportion of mesoporous) have taken this HDMC to provide a super‐high power density (33.5 kW kg−1) and a high volume power density (9.37 kW L−1) for HDMC‐based supercapacitor, more than those of commercial YP‐50F (14.9 kW kg−1 @ 4.63 kW L−1). Therefore, this work provides a synergistic strategy to incorporate the properties of mesoporous and densifying, and reveals its electrochemical behavior toward the further application of power‐type supercapacitors.

Point‐of‐care testing of DNA damage markers‐8‐hydroxy‐2′‐deoxyguanosine based on cobalt‐iron‐platinum‐ruthenium/N doped ordered mesoporous carbon

AbstractIn this work, we achieved point of care detection of DNA damage marker 8‐hydroxy‐2’‐deoxyguanosine (8‐OH‐dG) on tetrapartite metal nanoparticles loaded ordered mesoporous carbon composite nanomaterials (Co‐Fex‐Pt−Pd@NOMC). Nitrogen doping and co‐metal loading were achieved using dopamine as nitrogen, carbon sources and metal linker. In addition, the presence of catechol groups in dopamine with strong affinity for metal ions, make the simultaneous confinement of metals inside and outside the pores of ordered mesoporous carbon. Then, Fe, Pt and Pd metal nanoparticles were introduced to interact with Co nanoparticles to form four‐in‐one alloy nanoparticles by oil bath and carbonisation. The finally formed Co−Fe6‐Pt−Pd@NOMC nanocomposites exhibited excellent catalytic performance for the determination of 8‐OH‐dG. A lower limit of detection (LOD) of 0.044 μM, a wide linear range (0.175 μM–118.375 μM) and strong stability, reproducibility and selectivity were obtained. In addition, Co−Fe6‐Pt−Pd@NOMC realised the detection of 8‐OH‐dG in real human urine sample. At the same time, 8‐OH‐dG after DNA damage and guanine damage were also studied in this work. The electrochemical response of 8‐OH‐dG was combined with DNA damage to verify the mechanism of DNA damage. New solutions and idea were provided for the preparation of inorganic nanocomposites for the detection of 8‐OH‐dG in this work.

Ultrafine CoFe Alloy Nanoparticles Confined in Highly Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Films as Catalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Ultrafine CoFe Alloy Nanoparticles Confined in Highly Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Films as Catalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Spatial Confinement Growth Enabling MoS2@Hollow Mesoporous Carbon Spheres Microspheres with Enhanced Microwave Absorption and Corrosion Resistance.

The complex electromagnetic applications in harsh corrosive environments urgently require research into multifunctional microwave absorption (MA) materials. The core-shell structure is an effective strategy to prepare multifunctional MA materials by efficiently combining the advantages of each component. Nevertheless, it remains a tough challenge to elucidate the effect of the binding positions of each component in MA materials on the comprehensive electromagnetic performance. Herein, two types of core-shell structured composites based on hollow mesoporous carbon spheres (HMCS), HMCS@MoS2 and MoS2@HMCS, were prepared via synergistic etch growth and spatial confinement growth strategies, respectively. Compared with HMCS, HMCS@MoS2 severely destroys the connection of HMCS, therefore resulting in impedance mismatching. Comparatively, the growth of MoS2 within the HMCS reduces the disruption of the HMCS connection, enabling MoS2@HMCS with enhanced dielectric loss while optimizing the impedance matching, and therefore, it yields an optimal reflection loss of -46.91 dB at 2 mm and an effective bandwidth of 5.78 GHz at 2.4 mm mixed with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). In addition, the combinations of the spatial confinement effect of HMCS, corrosion resistance of MoS2, and chemical stability of PDMS resulted in minimal changes in the MA performance of MoS2@HMCS/PDMS after soaking in acidic and alkaline solutions for 14 days, proving an excellent corrosion resistance property. This inspiring work proposes an effective spatial confinement growth strategy to optimize the impedance matching and further tailor the multifunction for dielectric loss dominated MA materials.

Selective Self‐Assembly of Atomically Dispersed Iron and Cobalt Dual Atom Catalyst on Anisotropic Mesoporous Carbon Particles for High Performance Seawater Batteries

AbstractNa‐seawater batteries (SWBs) are environmentally friendly energy storage system that utilizes abundant seawater as an electrolyte alternative to conventional distilled water‐based and organic electrolytes. To achieve high energy efficiency in Na‐SWBs, it is necessary to enhance the activity of bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts. In this study, an atomically dispersed iron and cobalt dual‐atom nitrogen‐doped lens‐shaped mesoporous carbon (FeCo‐LMC) particles is synthesized as a SWB cathode material using the spinodal decomposition of the polymer blend and selective precursor positioning. The well‐aligned mesoporous structure and synergetic effect of the dual‐atom site realize FeCo‐LMC as a comparable bifunctional oxygen catalyst with the lowest overpotential difference (EOER−EORR) among the other catalysts with natural seawater electrolyte. When applied to the SWB system, the FeCo‐LMC shows a highly improved charge/discharge performance compared to Pt/C and a stable cycling performance for 200 h. Density functional theory calculations reveal the enhanced oxygen catalytic activity of FeCo‐LMC owing to electron delocalization and d‐band center adjustment of FeN4–CoN4 structure.

Self-Templating Synthesis of Mesoporous Carbon Cathode Materials for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Capacitors.

Lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) have attracted considerable interest because of their excellent power and energy densities. However, the development of LICs is limited by the low capacity of the cathode and the kinetics mismatch between the cathode and anode. In this work, mesoporous carbon materials (MCs) with uniform pore sizes were prepared using magnesium citrate as the raw material through a self-templating method. During the carbonization process, MgO nanoparticles generated from magnesium citrate act as a template, resulting in a more orderly pore structure. The resultant MCs demonstrate a high specific surface area of 1673 m2 g-1 and an abundance of small mesopores, which significantly accelerated ion migration within the electrolyte and expedited the formation of electric double layers. Benefiting from these advantages, the MCs cathode demonstrates a high reversible specific capacity, excellent cycling stability, and rate performance. The assembled MCs-based LIC provides a high energy density of 152.2 Wh kg-1 and a high power density of 14.3 kW kg-1. After 5000 cycles, a capacity retention rate of 80 % at the current density of 1 A g-1 is obtained. These results highlight the excellent potential of MCs as a cathode material for LICs.