Plasma-assisted nitrogen doping of VACNTs for efficiently enhancing the supercapacitor performance

Nitrogen doping of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition has been investigated to improve the supercapacitance performance of CNTs. Incorporating electrochemical measurements on the open-ended nitrogen-doped CNTs, showed the achievement of 6 times improvement in the capacitance value. For nitrogen-doped CNTs on silicon substrate, specific capacitance of 60 F g(-1) was obtained in 0.5 M KCl solution, with capacity retention ratio above 90 % after cycled at 0.1 A g(-1) for 5000 cycles. Using this sample, a symmetric supercapacitance was fabricated which showed the power density of 37.5 kW kg(-1). The facile fabrication approach and its excellent capacitance improvement, propose it as an efficient technique for enhancing the supercapacitance performance of the carbon-based electrodes.