In situ growth of copper nanoparticles in nitrogen-doped carbonized wood for efficiently enhancing its capacitive performance and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution
Hewei Hou, Huashuang Huo, Yuanyuan Yu, Moyan Li, Yangyang Chen, Changzhou Chen, Guangfu Qian, Douyong Min
Abstract
The development of self-supporting electrodes using natural wood is promising for energy storage and conversion but still challenging. Here, the nitrogen-doped carbonized wood electrode decorated with copper nanoparticles is synthesized to escalate its capacitive performance and HER. Cu 1.0 NPs@NCW-1000 exhibits a high specific capacitance of 10.39 F cm −2 at 1 mA cm −2 . The symmetric supercapacitor achieves an energy density of 0.59 mWh cm −2 at 3.5 mW cm −2 while achieving a capacitance retention of 89.51 % after 8,000 cycles. Cu 1.0 NPs@NCW-1000 also displays good HER activity, comprising an overpotential of 100.43 mV at 10 mA cm −2 and a Tafel slope of 95 mV dec −1 . Its outstanding properties were attributed to doping-nitrogen, high specific surface area, hierarchical porous structure, and the interaction between Cu NPs and NCW, which increased active sites and accelerated charge transfer. This work provides a new strategy for the preparation of self-supported carbon electrodes for the energy storage and electrocatalysis applications.