Hydrophilic modification of ordered mesoporous carbons for supercapacitor via electrochemically induced surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization

Ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) grafted with poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) was prepared through electrochemically induced surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (SI-eATRP). The introduction of hydrophilic polymer PVP brushes on the surface of OMCs results in the improvement of wettability and a remarkable increase in the specific capacitance. The results of electrochemical performance of OMCs-PVP show good specific capacitance of 253 F g(-1), excellent rate performance and good cycling stability with capacitance retention of 89.6% over 5000 cycles. The PVP modification of OMCs via the SI-eATRP method demonstrates an effective way to improve the wettability and electrochemical properties. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.