Nitrogen- and Oxygen-Enriched Carbon With Square Tubular Structure Prepared From Polyaniline as Electrode for Supercapacitors

Square tubular carbon with a large number of surface functional groups are prepared by carbonizing and activating polyaniline, which are synthesized by polymerization of aniline with a template-free self-assembly method in aqueous media. The physicochemical properties of the square tubular carbon is characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, BrunauerEmmettTeller surface area measurements, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. When used as an electrode, the square tubular carbon exhibit a specific capacitance of 223?F?g1 at a scan rate of 2?mV?s1, which could still stay over 90% when the scan rate increased by 10 times. The specific capacitance even hardly decrease at a current density of 3?A?g1 after 10,000 cycles, which indicates that the square tubular carbon have good cycle durability and may be a promising candidate as an electrode for supercapacitors.