Highly Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon Obtained Using Nicotinic Acid by a Template Carbonization Approach for Supercapacitors

Nitrogen-enriched porous carbon materials have been successfully synthesized via a template carbonization method, in which nicotinic acid acts as carbon/ nitrogen sources, and Ca(OAc)(2) center dot H2O as a template. It reveals that the mass ratio of Ca(OAc)(2)center dot H2O-to-nicotinic acid and the carbonization temperature dominate the morphology of carbon materials as well as capacitive performances. The sample obtained with the ratio of Ca(OAc)(2)center dot H2O- to- nicotinic acid as 1.5 at 800 degrees C, namely the C- 1.5- 800 sample, displays the optimum capacitive behavior. It is amorphous with low- graphitization degree, possessing hierarchical porous structure, high nitrogen content (14.5%), large specific surface area (788m(2) g(-1)) and high total pore volume (3.56 cm(3) g(-1)). As a result, the as- made C- 1.5- 800 electrode exhibits a maximum specific capacitance of 216 F g(-1) at a current density of 1A g(-1) in 6M KOH aqueous solution. It also displays a maximum energy density of 45.9Wh kg(-1) at 2050W kg(-1) and a maximum power density of 20100W kg(-1) at 19.2Wh kg(-1) at operation temperature of 50 degrees C in [EMIm] BF4/AN organic electrolyte. More importantly, the C- 1.5- 800 electrode exhibits an excellent cycling stability within 5000 cycles at 5A g(-1). This work may enrich and broaden the field of porous carbon and its potential application for supercapacitors under high temperature.