Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon Nanosheets from Eco-Friendly Eucalyptus Leaves as High Performance Electrode Materials for Supercapacitors and Lithium Ion Batteries

Nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanosheets were prepared from eucalyptus tree leaves by simply mixing the leaf powders with KHCO3 and subsequent carbonisation. Porous carbon nanosheets with a high specific surface area of 2133m(2)g(-1) were obtained and applied as electrode materials for supercapacitors and lithium ion batteries. For supercapacitor applications, the porous carbon nanosheet electrode exhibited a supercapacitance of 372Fg(-1) at a current density of 500mAg(-1) in 1m H2SO4 aqueous electrolyte and excellent cycling stability over 15000 cycles. In organic electrolyte, the nanosheet electrode showed a specific capacitance of 71Fg(-1) at a current density of 2Ag(-1) and stable cycling performance. When applied as the anode material for lithium ion batteries, the as-prepared porous carbon nanosheets also demonstrated a high specific capacity of 819mAhg(-1) at a current density of 100mAg(-1), good rate capability, and stable cycling performance. The outstanding electrochemical performances for both supercapacitors and lithium ion batteries are derived from the large specific surface area, porous nanosheet structure and nitrogen doping effects. The strategy developed in this paper provides a novel route to utilise biomass-derived materials for low-cost energy storage systems.