Nitrogen-Doped Hierarchical Porous Activated Carbon Derived from Paddy for High-Performance Supercapacitors

A facile and environmentally friendly fabrication is proposed to prepare nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous activated carbon via normal-pressure popping, one-pot activation and nitrogen-doping process. The method adopts paddy as carbon precursor, KHCO3 and dicyandiamide as the safe activating agent and nitrogen dopant. The as-prepared activated carbon presents a large specific surface area of 3025 m(2)center dot g(-1) resulting from the synergistic effect of KHCO3 and dicyandiamide. As an electrode material, it shows a maximum specific capacitance of 417 F center dot g(-1) at a current density of 1 A center dot g(-1) and very good rate performance. Furthermore, the assembled symmetric supercapacitor presents a large specific capacitance of 314.6 F center dot g(-1) and a high energy density of 15.7 Wh center dot Kg(-1) at 1 A center dot g(-1), maintaining 14.4 Wh center dot Kg(-1) even at 20 A center dot g(-1) with the energy density retention of 91.7%. This research demonstrates that nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous activated carbon derived from paddy has a significant potential for developing a high-performance renewable supercapacitor and provides a new route for economical and large-scale production in supercapacitor application.

Automated summary

A nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous activated carbon was fabricated using a facile and environmentally friendly method, showing high specific surface area and excellent electrochemical performance for supercapacitor applications.