A facile one-pot route towards three-dimensional graphene-based microporous N-doped carbon composites

3D graphene aerogel-based microporous N-doped carbon composites can be prepared by hydrothermal assembly of graphene oxide with chitosan. A large amount of chitosan added into the system acts as a coating to adhere to the graphene sheets and separate the graphene. During the hydrothermal reaction, the GO is reduced and forms 3D graphene-based frameworks which provide the 3D template for the efficient growth of N-doped carbon on the graphene surface, and the chitosan, which went through a dehydration and carbonization process, forms N-doped carbon strongly adhered to the graphene sheets due to the pi-pi stacking interactions which effectively solve the aggregation problems between the graphene layers. Furthermore, the resulting microporous N-doped carbon composites show enhanced supercapacitive performance and high efficiency as metal-free catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction.