Unconventional mesopore carbon nanomesh prepared through explosion-assisted activation approach: A robust electrode material for ultrafast organic electrolyte supercapacitors

This work presented an unconventional mesopore carbon nanomesh (MCNM), featured with numerous evenly distributed in-plane micro/mesopores, which was obtained by a novel explosion-assisted activation process employing carboxymethylcellulose sodium (CMCS) as the carbon precursor while potassium nitrate (KNO3) acts as both an explosive and activating reagent. This work opens a new route toward nanocarbon materials for high-performance electrochemical energy storage devices, which is totally different from the previously reported approaches. Considering the mesopore carbon nanomesh structures combined with the presence of abundant in-plane micro/mesopores as well as large specific surface area, the application of the MCNM materials in high-performance symmetric supercapacitors in organic electrolyte was investigated. The supercapacitor device exhibited competitive performance, including high specific capacitance (up to 149 F/g at 1 A/g), extremely high rate capability (84.6% from 1 A/g to 50 A/g), small IR drop (0.37 V at 50 A/g), outstanding cycling stability (99% capacity retention over 5000 cycles), and reasonable energy densities of 28.7 Wh/kg at an ultrahigh power density of 54000 W/kg. The facile, low-cost and scalable synthesis strategy together with excellent electrochemical performance makes it suitable for applications in electrochemical energy storage devices such as supercapacitors.

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