Kim Cheolho, Kim Kiwon, Moon Jun Hyuk
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 04107, Republic of Korea.
Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 31;7(1):14400. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-14686-1.
Porous carbon spheres (CSs) have distinct advantages in energy storage and conversion applications. We report the preparation of highly monodisperse N-doped microporous CSs through the carbonization of polystyrene-based polymer spheres and subsequent activation. The N-doped microporous CSs have a remarkably high N-doping content, over 10%, and high BET surface area of 884.9 m g. We characterize the synergistic effects of the micropores and N doping on the energy storage performance of a supercapacitor electrode consisting of the CSs and on the performance in an electrocatalytic reaction of a CS counter electrode in a photovoltaic cell. The N-doped microporous CSs exhibit a maximum capacitance of 373 F g at a current density of 0.2 Ag, a high capacitance retention up to 62% with a 10-fold increase in current density, and excellent stability over 10,000 charge/discharge cycles. A counter electrode consisting of N-doped microporous CSs was found to exhibit superior electrocatalytic behavior to an electrode consisting of conventional Pt nanoparticles. These CSs derived from polymer spheres synthesized by addition polymerization will be new platform materials with high electrochemical performance.
多孔碳球（CSs）在能量存储和转换应用中具有显著优势。我们报道了通过聚苯乙烯基聚合物球的碳化及后续活化制备高度单分散的氮掺杂微孔CSs的方法。氮掺杂微孔CSs具有显著高的氮掺杂含量，超过10%，以及884.9 m²/g的高比表面积。我们表征了微孔和氮掺杂对由CSs组成的超级电容器电极的储能性能以及对光伏电池中CS对电极的电催化反应性能的协同效应。氮掺杂微孔CSs在电流密度为0.2 A/g时表现出373 F/g的最大电容，在电流密度增加10倍时电容保持率高达62%，并且在10000次充放电循环中具有优异的稳定性。由氮掺杂微孔CSs组成的对电极表现出优于由传统铂纳米颗粒组成的电极的电催化行为。这些通过加成聚合合成的聚合物球衍生的CSs将成为具有高电化学性能的新型平台材料。
