Cao, J.; Jafta, C.J.; Gong, J.; Ran, Q.; Lin, X.; Felix, R.; Wilks, R.G.; Bär, M.; Yuan, J.; Ballauff, M.; Lu, Y.: Synthesis of Dispersible Mesoporous Nitrogen-Doped Hollow Carbon Nanoplates with Uniform Hexagonal Morphologies for Supercapacitors. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 8 (2016), p. 29628-29636
10.1021/acsami.6b08946
Abstract:
In this study, dispersible mesoporous nitrogen-doped hollow carbon nanoplates have been synthesized as a new anisotropic carbon nanostructure using gibbsite nanoplates as templates. The gibbsite-silica core−shell nanoplates were first prepared before the gibbsite core was etched away. Dopamine as carbon precursor was self-polymerized on the hollow silica nanoplates surface assisted by sonification, which not only favors a homogeneous polymer coating on the nanoplates but also prevents their aggregation during the polymerization. Individual silica-polydopamine core−shell nanoplates were immobilized in a silica gel in an insulated state via a silica nanocasting technique. After pyrolysis in a nanoconfine environment and elimination of silica, discrete and dispersible hollow carbon nanoplates are obtained. The resulted hollow carbon nanoplates bear uniform hexagonal morphology with specific surface area of 460 m2·g−1 and fairly accessible small mesopores (∼3.8 nm). They show excellent colloidal stability in aqueous media and are applied as electrode materials for symmetric supercapacitors. When using polyvinylimidazolium-based nanoparticles as a binder in electrodes, the hollow carbon nanoplates present superior performance in parallel to polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) binder.