Large-scale doping-engineering enables boron/nitrogen dual-doped porous carbon for high-performance zinc ion capacitors

Zinc ion capacitors (ZICs) have drawn increasing interest in energy storage devices because of their economic benefits, high safety, and long cycling life. Nevertheless, the lack of high-performance cathodes for ZICs remains a key challenge. Here, we fabricated B, N co-doped porous carbon (BN-C) via a salt template strategy. The aqueous ZICs assembled from BN-C cathode delivered a high capacity of 190.2 mAh.g(-1) and a remarkable energy density of 105.1 Wh.kg(-1). Moreover, systematic characterization verifies that B/N dual-doping promotes the physical adsorption/desorption kinetics of anion and the chemical absorption/desorption kinetics of Zn2+, thus improving the electrochemical performance of ZICs. In addition, the quasi-solid-state pouch-type battery exhibited excellent electrochemical durability and mechanical flexibility, demonstrating its vast application potential as a flexible power source. Overall, this research not only presents a reasonable approach to the large-scale production of carbon cathode materials with excellent electrochemical performance but also strengthens the essential recognition of the charge storage mechanism of heteroatoms-doped carbon materials.

Automated summary

This research focuses on the fabrication of B, N co-doped porous carbon as a cathode material for zinc ion capacitors (ZICs). The ZICs assembled from this cathode material exhibit high capacity and energy density. The dual-doping of B/N promotes the adsorption and desorption kinetics of anions and Zn2+, resulting in improved electrochemical performance. Additionally, a quasi-solid-state pouch-type battery with excellent electrochemical durability and mechanical flexibility is demonstrated.