Title: Nitrogen doped microporous carbon nanospheres derived from chitin nanogels as attractive materials for supercapacitors

Authors: Zheng, S (Zheng, Si); Cui, Y (Cui, Yin); Zhang, JW (Zhang, Jianwei); Gu, YX (Gu, Yuxing); Shi, XW (Shi, Xiaowen); Peng, C (Peng, Chuang); Wang, DH (Wang, Dihua)

Source: RSC ADVANCES Volume: 9 No: 19  Pages: 10976-10982  DOI: 10.1039/c9ra00683d  Published: 2019  

Abstract: N-doped porous carbon nanospheres were fabricated directly by pyrolyzing chitin nanogels, which were facilely prepared by mechanical agitation induced sol-gel transition of chitin solution in NaOH/urea solvent. The resulting carbon nanospheres displayed ordered micropores (centered at approximate to 0.6 nm) and high BET surface area of up to 1363 m(2) g(-1), which is substantially larger than that of the carbons from raw chitin (600 m(2) g(-1)). In addition, the carbon nanospheres retained a nitrogen content of 3.2% and excellent conductivity. Consequently, supercapacitor electrodes prepared from the carbon nanospheres pyrolyzed at 800 degrees C showed a specific capacitance as high as 192 F g(-1) at a current density of 0.5 A g(-1) and impressive rate capability (81% retention at 10 A g(-1)). When assembled in a symmetrical two-electrode cell, N-doped porous carbon nanospheres demonstrated excellent cycling stability both in aqueous and organic electrolytes (95% retention after 10000 cycles at 10 A g(-1)), together with outstanding energy density of 5.1 W h kg(-1) at the power density of 2364.9 W kg(-1). This work introduces a novel and efficient method to prepared N-doped porous carbon nanospheres directly from chitin and demonstrates the great potential of utilization of abundant polymers from nature in power storage.

WOS: 000465297300062

Document Type: Article

Language: English

Addresses of reprint authors:

[Shi, XW]; [Peng, C] Wuhan Univ, Hubei Int Sci & Technol Cooperat Base Sustainable, Hubei Biomass Resource Chem & Environm Biotechnol, Sch Resource & Environm Sci, Wuhan 430079, Hubei, Peoples R China.

E-mail: Shixw@whu.edu.cn; Chuang.peng@whu.edu.cn

Addresses:

[Zheng, Si; Cui, Yin; Zhang, Jianwei; Gu, Yuxing; Shi, Xiaowen; Peng, Chuang; Wang, Dihua] Wuhan Univ, Hubei Int Sci & Technol Cooperat Base Sustainable, Hubei Biomass Resource Chem & Environm Biotechnol, Sch Resource & Environm Sci, Wuhan 430079, Hubei, Peoples R China.

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