Shahed University

The ordered mesoporous carbon nitride-graphene aerogel nanocomposite for high-performance supercapacitors

Mahrokh Nazari | Abolhassan Noori | Weijun Li | Cheng Zhang | Mir F. Mousavi | Mohammad Safi Rahmanifar
URL :   http://research.shahed.ac.ir/WSR/WebPages/Report/PaperView.aspx?PaperID=158457
Date :  2021/02/28
Publish in :    Journal of Power Sources
DOI :  https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.229741
Link :  http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.229741
Keywords :Mesoporous carbon nitride Graphene aerogel Metal-free supercapacitor SBA-15 Nano hard-templating

Abstract :
Mesoporous carbon nitrides (MCNs) are considered as one of the most fascinating materials for a variety of applications because of their low cost, high specific surface area, abundant functionalities, and ordered porous structures. However, pristine MCNs suffer from a poor electrical conductivity, thus an inferior supercapacitive performance. Herein, we synthesized MCN via a nano hard-templating approach (using SBA-15 template) and then composited it with the graphene aerogel (GA). The highly conductive metal-free MCN-GA nanocomposite, in which MCN is firmly grafted onto GA via covalent bonding, exhibits a hierarchical porous structure, and demonstrates an exceptional supercapacitive performance among the different materials of the carbon family. The structure-/ composition-tailored MCN-GA nanocomposite electrode possesses a specific capacitance of ~240 F g− 1 at 5 mV s− 1 in a 1.0 M H2SO4 electrolyte, which is significantly higher than that of the pristine MCN (142 F g− 1) and GA (174 F g− 1) electrodes. The symmetric MCN-GAMCN-GA supercapacitor exhibits an excellent long-term stability with an impressive capacitance retention of 94 after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles, as well as a high specific energy (11.6 W h kg− 1) and an outstanding specific power (8.0 kW kg− 1). These results indicate the potential of the MCNGA nanocomposite for future energy storage applications as well as the other related technologies.