Synthesis of graphene oxide/polybenzoxazine-based nitrogen-containing porous carbon nanocomposite for enhanced supercapacitor properties

A strategy for the fabrication of graphene oxide (GO) and nitrogen-containing porous carbon (NC) nanocomposites for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes was reported. Driven by the hydrogen bonding and covalent bonding between GO and benzoxazine, GO/NC nanocomposites with different GO content were prepared from a novel polybenzoxazine (PBZ) via a situ ring opening polymerization process coupled with KOH activation technique. The introduction of GO demonstrates a significant effect on the textural property, surface chemistry as well as the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposites, leading to remarkably improvement of the electrochemical behavior. A maximum specific capacitance of 405.6 F g (1) at a current density of 1.0 A g (1) was achieved for GO/NC nanocomposite electrode with GO content of 1.29 wt. % in 6 M KOH electrolyte solution. It also shows better rate capability (267.8 F g (1) at 40 A g (1)) and cycle durability (95.8% capacitance retention over 5000 cycles) in comparison with the activated PBZ-based nanoporous carbon without GO. Additionally, the as-fabricated GO/NCs symmetric supercapacitor devices in 1 M Na2SO4 can realize a wide operational voltage of 1.8 V, and displays high energy density of 38.6 Wh kg (1) at the power density of 180 W kg (1), which still maintains 19.9 Wh kg (1) at 32.4 kW kg (1). (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.