Keratin-derived heteroatoms-doped hierarchical porous carbon materials for all-solid flexible supercapacitors

In this work, N, O, S co-doped hierarchical porous carbons are developed utilizing low cost and sustainable keratin obtained from chicken feathers as a precursor. The intrinsic composition of keratin and the addition of inorganic acids contributes to the heteroatoms doped in the carbon framework uniformly during pyrolysis. By optimizing the pore structure with KOH, the as prepared H2SO4-KK-3 possesses an ultrahigh specific surface area of 2864 m(2) g(-1) with a total pore volume of 1.461 m(3) g(-1). As an electrode material of supercapacitor, the H2SO4-KK-3 demonstrates a high specific capacitance of 270 F g(-1) at the current density of 1 A g(-1) and displays superior long-term cycling stability with the capacity retention of 98% after 10000 cycles attributed to the fast kinetics of ion transport and more charge-storage surface. The assembled symmetric carbon-based supercapacitor delivers good rate capability and a high energy density of 11.84 W h Kg(-1) at the power density of 8525 W kg(-1) in a neutral electrolyte. More promisingly, the all-solid device based on H2SO4-KK-3 exhibits outstanding flexibility, which greatly broadens its practicability. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Hierarchical porous carbons doped with N, O, S were developed using keratin from chicken feathers as a precursor, showing high specific surface area and total pore volume. As an electrode material for supercapacitors, the material exhibited high capacitance and excellent cycling stability, making it a promising option for energy storage applications.