Mesoporous nitrogen-doped graphene aerogels with enhanced rate capability towards high performance supercapacitors

In this work, a novel preparation method and architecture of mesoporous nitrogen-doped graphene aerogels (GAs) using electrostatic attraction are reported. The sacrificial template, positively charged SiO2 nanoparticles by using (3-Animopropyl) triethoxysilane (3-APTS), can significantly decrease the spacing between graphene oxide sheets, due to the strong electrostatic attraction between the graphene oxide and SiO2. After the etching of templates, the ratio of mesopores is greatly increased, and the electrochemical performances of electrodes are enhanced. The mesoporous GAs yield an enhanced specific capacitance of 203 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g, and a capacitance fade of only 8.95% at a high current density of 20 A/g, indicating improved ion transport in mesoporous architecture. The controllable synthesized method can be further applied to prepare other mesoporous materials and such mesoporous nitrogen-doped GAs have great potential in high rate performance supercapacitors.