Nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon materials prepared from meta-aminophenol formaldehyde resin for supercapacitor with high rate performance

• A mass produced nano-SiO2 is used to prepared hierarchical porous carbon.
• N-doped hierarchical porous carbon materials are easily prepared.
• The NHPCs materials exhibit a very high capacitance of up to 260.5 F g−1.
• The NHPC-800 sample shows very high rate capability.
• Hierarchical porosity and N-doping synergistically enhances the whole capacitance.

In this work, nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon materials (NHPCs) are prepared by a two-step method combined of a hard template process and KOH-activation treatment. Low cost and large-scale commercial nano-SiO2 are used as a hard template. The hierarchical porosity, structure and nitrogen-doped surface chemical properties are proved by a varies of means, such as scanning electron microscopy, transition electron microscopy, N2 sorption, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. When the prepared NHPCs materials are used as the electrode materials for supercapacitors in KOH electrolyte, they exhibit very high specific capacitance, good power capability and excellent cyclic stability. NHPC-800 carbon shows a high capacitance of 114.0 F g−1 at the current density of 40 A g−1, responding to a high energy and power densities of 4.0 Wh kg−1 and 10 000 W kg−1, and a very short drain time of 1.4 s. The excellent capacitive performance may be due to the synergistic effect of the hierarchical porosity, high effective surface area and heteroatom doping, resulting in both electrochemical double layer and Faradaic capacitance contributions.

N-doped hierarchical porous carbons with high rate capacitive performance are prepared by a combination method of nano-SiO2 template/KOH activation.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide