Camellia Pollen-Derived Carbon with Controllable N Content for High-Performance Supercapacitors by Ammonium Chloride Activation and Dual N-Doping

Biomass-derived carbon materials are an amazing electrode material for supercapacitor, owing to their abundant, porous structure and composition. Herein, a controllable N content carbon material with hierarchical porous structure was fabricated via an integrated carbonization, activation and nitrogen-doping process. N-rich camellia pollen is used as carbon precursor, while NH4Cl is employed as both activation agent and dopant. The optimal N-doped carbon with higher N content (3.82 at%), suitable pore size distribution and larger specific surface area (810 m(2) g(-1)), provides abundant ion transport channels and exposes more accessible active sites. Thus, a high specific capacitance of 280 F g(-1) (1 A g(-1)) in 6 M KOH (three-electrode system) can be obtained with making full use of N-HPC-1. Moreover, the assembled symmetrical supercapacitor delivers high energy densities both in 6 M KOH (13.3 Wh kg(-1)) and 1 M Na2SO4 (20 Wh kg(-1)) that can be used for LED lighting. More than that, it is also demonstrates excellent cycle stability in 6 M KOH (85.4% after 20000 cycles at 20 A g(-1)). In view of the above-mentioned merits, this N-doped hierarchical porous carbon is anticipated to be a promising material for application in supercapacitors and other fields.

Automated summary

A controllable N-doped carbon material with hierarchical porous structure was fabricated using an integrated carbonization, activation, and nitrogen-doping process. This optimal carbon material showed a higher N content, suitable pore size distribution, and larger specific surface area, leading to a high specific capacitance in 6 M KOH. The material also exhibited high energy densities and excellent cycle stability, making it a promising material for supercapacitor applications.