Nitrogen-Enriched Nanoporous Polytriazine for High-Performance Supercapacitor Application

Polytriazine with high nitrogen content (c.a. 50.5 wt %) has been synthesized by an ultrafast microwave-assisted method using melamine and cyanuric chloride. The nitrogen-enriched nanoporous polytriazine (NENP-1) has exhibited high specific surface area (maximum SA(BET) of 838 m(2) g(-1)) and narrow pore size distribution. The NENP-1 has been employed as electrode material for supercapacitor application. A maximum specific capacitance (c(sp)) of 1256 F g(-1) @1 mV s(-1) and 656 F g(-1) @1 A g(-1) are estimated from the cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD) measurements, respectively, in a three-electrodes configuration. This C-sp value is considered as very high for a nonmetallic system (organic polymer). Superior capacitance retention of 87.4% of its initial C-sp was observed after 5000 cycles at a current density of 5 A g(-1) and demonstrates its potential as an efficient electrode material for practical applications. To test this claim, an asymmetric supercapacitor device (ASCD) was fabricated. The C-sp values of the device in the two-electrode configuration are 567 F g(-1) @5 mV s(-1) and 287 F g(-1) @4 A g(-1) in the CV and GCD measurements, respectively. The ASCD has shown superior energy density and power density of 102 Wh kg(-1) and 1.6 kW kg(-1), respectively, at the current density of 4 A g(-1). The energy density is much higher than the best reported supercapacitors and also close to the commercial batteries. This indicates the material could bridge the gap between the commercial batteries and supercapacitors.