Fabrication of 3D foam-like hybrid carbon materials of porous carbon/graphene and its electrochemical performance

In this work, we report the direct fabrication of 3D foam-like carbon materials by ambient pressure chemical vapour deposition on Ni foams, and followed by a simply chemical etching. By controlling growth temperature, microstructures of the 3D foam-like carbon materials can be adjusted from 3D porous carbon, free-standing 3D hybrid carbon materials composed of porous carbon and graphene, to free-standing 3D hollow graphene. The free-standing 3D hybrid carbon materials, in which porous carbon tightly adhered to the inner surface of hollow graphene, are found to be promising alternatives for the electrode materials of energy storage devices because of their interconnected hierarchical porous structures and high electrical conductivity, which provide a more favorable path for charge penetration and transportation. A binder-free supercapacitor assembled by 3D hybrid carbon materials exhibits good capacitance performance and high rate capability. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.