Preparation of N-doped porous carbons via high internal phase emulsion template
Yulai Zhao, Zhikui Zhao, Zhongzheng Zhu, Anjun Wang, Linxi Hou
Abstract
Heteroatom doped porous carbon materials have great application prospects in supercapacitors. In the present study, an approach of preparing N-doped porous carbon (NPC) was proposed from porous poly(resorcinol-formaldehyde-melamine) monoliths which were prepared by high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) template. Melamine was dissolved in the external phase and copolymerized, acting as the N source and porous structure regulator to provide micropore-dominant NPCs. The structure, morphology, specific surface area (SSA), and chemical composition of the samples were systematically studied. With melamine content increasing, N-doping content in NPC increased while the SSA of NPC increased at first and then decreased. When the content of N is 8.42 wt%, the obtained NPC showed the highest SSA of about 1670 m2 g−1. Furthermore, high N doping content could improve the electronic conductivity and provide additional pseudocapacitance of NPC. Under the combined influences of proper N content and high porosity, the prepared NPC electrodes revealed excellent specific capacitance (228.0 F g−1 at 1.0 A g−1), favorable circling stability, and prominent rate capability in a three-electrode system with 6 M KOH solution as the electrolyte.