Self-Assembly Synthesis of N-Doped Carbon Aerogels for Supercapacitor and Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction

The rational design of high-performance and cheap nanomaterials for multiple sustainable energy storage applications is extremely urgent but remains challenging. Herein, a facile commercial melamine-sponge-directed multicomponent surface self-assembly strategy has been reported to synthesize N-doped carbon aerogels (NCAs) with low density (0.01 g cm(-3)), large open pores, and high surface area (1626 m(2) g(-1)). The commercial melamine sponge simultaneously serves as a green N source for N-doping and a 3D scaffold to buffer electrolytes for reducing ion transport resistance and minimizing ion diffusion distance. With their tailored architecture characteristics, the NCAs-based supercapacitor and oxygen reduction electrocatalyst show excellent performance.