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Porous carbon nanofibers derived from low-softening-point coal pitch towards all-carbon potassium ion hybrid capacitors

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Abstract

Potassium ion hybrid capacitors (PIHC) have promising applications in medium and large-scale energy storage systems due to their high energy/power density, abundant potassium resource and low cost. However, the slow kinetics of battery-type anodes originating from the large-size K+ results in a mismatch between the two electrodes, rendering the modest energy density of PIHC. Herein, we first develop an electrospinning strategy to successfully synthesize fibrous precursor by using the HNO3 pre-oxidized low-softening-point coal pitch as the low-cost raw material. With further carbonization or KOH activation, the two types of carbon nanofibers (CNF) are fabricated as anode and cathode materials, respectively, towards the dual-carbon PIHC devices. Thanks to its three-dimensional interconnected porous conducting network and large layer spacing, the resulted CNF anode material is endowed with high reversible capacities, excellent rate and long cycle stability. Meanwhile, the activated CNF cathode with a large surface area of 2169 m2·g−1 exhibits excellent capacitive performance. A PIHC constructed with the two fibrous electrodes delivers an energy density of 110.0 Wh·kg−1 at 200.0 W kg−1, along with a capacitance retention of 83.5% after 10,000 cycles at 1.0 A·g−1. The contribution here provides a cost-efficiency avenue and platform for advanced dual-carbon PIHC.

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摘要

钾离子混合电容器 (PIHC) 具有高能量/功率密度、钾资源丰富、成本低廉等优点, 在大中型储能系统中具有广阔的应用前景。然而, 由大尺寸K+产生的电池型负极的缓慢动力学导致两个电极之间动力学不匹配, 使得PIHC的能量密度较低。本文首次采用静电纺丝技术, 以HNO3预氧化低软化点煤沥青为低成本原料成功合成纤维状前驱体。通过进一步碳化或KOH活化, 制备了两种类型的碳纳米纤维(CNF), 分别作为正极和负极材料, 用于双碳PIHC器件。由于其三维互联的多孔导电网络和较大的层间距, 所制备的CNF负极材料具有较高的可逆容量、优良的倍率和长循环稳定性。活化后的CNF正极具有2169 m2·g−1的大比表面积, 表现出优异的电容性能。由两种纤维电极构建的PIHC在200.0 W·kg−1时的能量密度为110.0 Wh·g−1, 在1.0 A·g−1下循环10,000次后的电容保持率为83.5%。这为先进的双碳PIHC提供了一个具有成本效益的途径和平台。

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52072151 and 52171211), Taishan Scholars (No. ts201712050), Jinan Independent Innovative Team (No. 2020GXRC015), the Natural Science Doctoral Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR2019BB057) and the Major Program of Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation (No. ZR2021ZD05).

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  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan, 250022, China

    Guang-Yuan Wang, Xiao-Hong Wang, Jin-Feng Sun, Ya-Min Zhang, Lin-Rui Hou & Chang-Zhou Yuan

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Wang, GY., Wang, XH., Sun, JF. et al. Porous carbon nanofibers derived from low-softening-point coal pitch towards all-carbon potassium ion hybrid capacitors. Rare Met. 41, 3706–3716 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-022-02067-1

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