Rich nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous phenolic resin-based carbon for supercapacitors

Nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous phenolic resin-based carbon (N-OMC) with a high nitrogen content (11.64 wt.%) and 2D hexagonal mesostructure is synthesized by the carbonization of 2D hexagonal ordered mesoporous phenolic resin with melamine as the nitrogen source. The effect of nitrogen doping on structure and porosity, and the doping configuration of nitrogen are investigated in detail. Compared with the 2D hexagonal ordered mesoporous phenolic resin-based carbon (OMC) without nitrogen doping, N-OMC shows superior capacitive performance in 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte. The specific capacitance of N-OMC is up to 216 F g−1 at a current density of 0.1 A g−1, attributed to the co-contribution of double-layer capacitance and pseudocapacitance, which is much higher than that (127 F g−1) of OMC. Moreover, N-OMC shows a good rate capability (114 F g−1 retained at a high current density of 20 A g−1) and an excellent cycling stability (no capacitance loss over 10 000 cycles). The good electrochemical performance of N-OMC is ascribed to the nitrogen doping and the ordered mesostructure, and makes it a promising electrode material for supercapacitors.