Facile Synthesis of Highly Electrocapacitive Nitrogen-Doped Graphitic Porous Carbons

Abstract

The present study introduces a facile method to produce nitrogen-doped graphitic porous carbons (NGPCs) with balanced pore size distribution (0.5–5 nm) and high surface area (above 3000 m2 g–1) by utilizing polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a precursor. The NGPCs are obtained by the stabilization of PAN at 290 °C and subsequent carbonization with KOH activation at 700–800 °C. It is striking that the activation also changes the morphology of PAN from a grape-like structure to a smooth porous structure accompanying partial layer formations of nitrogen-doped graphene. Generation of evenly distributed micro- and mesopores with high specific surface areas, heteroatom doping on the surface of NGPCs, and low resistance of NGPCs contribute to the enhanced capacitance as supercapacitor electrodes.