Perylene-Templated Hierarchically Porous Carbon Fibers as Efficient Supercapacitor Electrode Material

Abstract

Abstract Nitrogen-doped nanoporous carbon fibers were prepared using chromonic perylene bisimide self-assemblies as templates. The method involves the formation of perylene-templated silica followed by carbonization and etching. This strategy does not require any additional carbon or nitrogen precursor and therefore omits the associated impregnation step. The obtained carbon fibers were tested as electrode materials for supercapacitor applications. Owing to the high surface area (695 m2 g−1) and well-developed porosity (pore volume ca. 0.67 cm3 g−1) with hierarchical micro- and mesopore structures, N-doping and high-wettability, amorphous carbon fibers show excellent electrical double-layer capacitance with faradaic pseudocapacitance performance in an aqueous electrolyte solution (1 M H2SO4). A working electrode prepared from the optimal sample achieved a high specific capacitance of 317 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 with excellent capacitance retention of 80% at a high current density of 50 A g−1 suggesting a fast electrolyte ion diffusion at the electrode surface. The electrode also showed outstanding cycle stability of 99% after 10,000 successive charge-discharge cycles. These results show the high potential of chromonic-derived hierarchically porous carbon fibers as electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors with advantages over electrospinning and catalytic fabrication methods, such as the absence of heavy metals and organic solvents in the preparation procedure.