Supercapacitor electrode materials with hierarchically structured pores from carbonization of MWCNTs and ZIF-8 composites

Xueqin Li; Changlong Hao; Bochong Tang; Yue Wang; Mei Liu; Yuanwei Wang; Yihua Zhu; Chenguang Lu; Zhiyong Tang

doi:10.1039/c6nr08987a

Supercapacitor electrode materials with hierarchically structured pores from carbonization of MWCNTs and ZIF-8 composites

Nanoscale. 2017 Feb 9;9(6):2178-2187. doi: 10.1039/c6nr08987a.

Authors

Xueqin Li¹, Changlong Hao², Bochong Tang², Yue Wang³, Mei Liu³, Yuanwei Wang⁴, Yihua Zhu⁴, Chenguang Lu⁵, Zhiyong Tang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, P.R. China. yhzhu@ecust.edu.cn and CAS Key Laboratory for Nanosystem and Hierarchy Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, P.R. China. LUCG@nanoctr.cn.
² CAS Key Laboratory for Nanosystem and Hierarchy Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, P.R. China. LUCG@nanoctr.cn.
³ CAS Key Laboratory for Nanosystem and Hierarchy Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, P.R. China. LUCG@nanoctr.cn and China University of Petroleum, Changping, Beijing 102249, P.R. China.
⁴ Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, P.R. China. yhzhu@ecust.edu.cn.
⁵ CAS Key Laboratory for Nanosystem and Hierarchy Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, P.R. China. LUCG@nanoctr.cn and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 A Yuquan Rd, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049 P.R. China.

PMID: 28124704
DOI: 10.1039/c6nr08987a

Abstract

Due to their high specific surface area and good electric conductivity, nitrogen-doped porous carbons (NPCs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted much attention for electrochemical energy storage applications. In the present work, we firstly prepared MWCNT/ZIF-8 composites by decoration of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-8) onto the surface of multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs), then obtained MWCNT/NPCs by the direct carbonization of MWCNT/ZIF-8. By controlling the reaction conditions, MWCNT/ZIF-8 with three different particle sizes were synthesized. The effect of NPCs size on capacitance performance has been evaluated in detail. The MWCNT/NPC with large-sized NPC (MWCNT/NPC-L) displayed the highest specific capacitance of 293.4 F g^-1 at the scan rate of 5 mV s^-1 and only lost 4.2% of capacitance after 10 000 cyclic voltammetry cycles, which was attributed to the hierarchically structured pores, N-doping and high electrical conductivity. The studies of symmetric two-electrode supercapacitor cells also confirmed MWCNT/NPC-L as efficient electrode materials that have good electrochemical performance, especially for high-rate applications.