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Preparation of graphene-based active carbons from petroleum asphalt for high-performance supercapacitors without added conducting materials

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Abstract

Graphene-based active carbons (G-ACs) with a high specific surface area and high conductivity are promising electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors. Typically, however, syntheses of the G-ACs call for expensive raw materials and are cumbersome. Here, the G-ACs are obtained by direct chemical activation of petroleum asphalt. The highest specific surface area of the prepared G-ACs is 3505 m2/g and the corresponding conductivity is 32 S/m. Electrodes fabricated using the as-prepared G-ACs, i.e., without any conductive additives, demonstrate high specific capacitance and high rate performance. The specific capacitances of optimized G-ACs, as measured in a 1 mol/L TEABF4/AN electrolyte and the neat ionic liquid EMIMBF4, are 155 and 176 F/g at 1 A/g, providing the high energy density of 39.2 and 74.9 W h/kg, respectively. In addition, the G-ACs exhibited excellent rate capability with a negligible capacitance decay from 0.5 to 10 A/g in both 1 mol/L TEABF4/AN and neat EMIMBF4 electrolytes. Furthermore, the optimized G-AC has a high energy density (68.5 W h/kg) at a relatively high power density (8501 W/kg), indicating that it holds potential for application in green energy storage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Materials Science, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Bin Wang & PengYi Xie

  2. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou, 510303, China

    Miao Zhang

  3. The Centre of Nanoscale Science and Technology and Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China

    HongTao Zhang & YongSheng Chen

  4. Research Center for Advanced Information Materials (CAIM), Huangpu Research & Graduate School of Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510555, China

    Bin Wang

Authors
  1. Bin Wang
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  2. PengYi Xie
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  3. Miao Zhang
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  4. HongTao Zhang
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  5. YongSheng Chen
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Miao Zhang or HongTao Zhang.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21905297), Guangdong Provincial Universities Characteristic Innovation Project (Grant No. 2019KTSCX120), Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (Grant Nos. 202102010378, 202102020331), and Open Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology (Grant No. 2019-skllmd-06).

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The supporting information is available online at tech.scichina.com and link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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11431_2022_2207_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Preparation of graphene-based active carbons from petroleum asphalt for high-performance supercapacitors without added conducting materials

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Wang, B., Xie, P., Zhang, M. et al. Preparation of graphene-based active carbons from petroleum asphalt for high-performance supercapacitors without added conducting materials. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 65, 2866–2873 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2207-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2207-x

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