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Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped polyurethane-based porous carbon materials as supercapacitors exhibit excellent electrochemical performance

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Abstract

Nitrogen and sulfur porous co-doped carbonized materials were successfully prepared from polyurethane (PU) using KOH as an activating agent with promising electrochemical performances. Many micropores imbedded in the carbon materials are beneficial to electrolyte transport and the resulting specific surface area of the porous samples is up to 2216 m2 g−1 measured by the N2 adsorption–desorption method. The electrochemical performances of the activated carbon samples were tested as supercapacitors in a three-electrode system and the Ragone plot was examined in a two-electrode cell with a 6 M KOH solution as electrolytes. The specific capacitance of porous carbon material PUC-2:1 (the mass ratio of KOH and PUC was 2:1 at an active temperature of 750 °C for 2 h) reaches 395 F g−1 at the current density of 1 A g−1, and the capacitance retention is 95.3% after 4000 charge–discharge cycles at a large current density of 10 A g−1. The energy density of PUC-2:1 is 24.4 Wh kg−1 at the power density of 1080 W kg−1 and still retains 12.6 Wh kg−1 with a high power density of 21.6 kW kg−1 at a high current density of 10 A g−1. Such a high energy density at a large power density provides potential application in high performance of energy storage devices.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the first batch of Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2015BM001) and the Doctoral Startup Foundation of Qilu University of Technology (12042826).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Qilu University of Technology, Daxue Road, Western University Science Park, Jinan, Shandong, 250353, People’s Republic of China

    Shisen Xiang, Xuena Yang, Chengshuai Chang, Haoan Que & Mei Li

  2. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Processing and Testing Technology of Glass and Functional Ceramics, Jinan, 250353, People’s Republic of China

    Xuena Yang & Mei Li

  3. Key Laboratory of Amorphous and Polycrystalline Materials, Qilu University of Technology, Jinan, 250353, People’s Republic of China

    Xuena Yang & Mei Li

  4. School of Polymer Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science & Technology, Qingdao, 266042, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaotian Lin

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  1. Shisen Xiang
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  2. Xuena Yang
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  3. Xiaotian Lin
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  4. Chengshuai Chang
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  6. Mei Li
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Correspondence to Mei Li.

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Xiang, S., Yang, X., Lin, X. et al. Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped polyurethane-based porous carbon materials as supercapacitors exhibit excellent electrochemical performance. J Solid State Electrochem 21, 1457–1465 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3505-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3505-7

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