Hollow, spherical nitrogen-rich porous carbon shells obtained from a porous organic framework for the supercapacitor

Hollow, spherical nitrogen-rich porous carbon shells were prepared as supercapacitor electrode materials through the carbonization of structure-controlled porous organic frameworks at high temperature. The structure and electrochemical properties of the resulting carbonized materials were systematically characterized. Experimental results revealed that the nitrogen-rich hollow carbon spheres obtained at 800 °C were a kind of amorphous carbon with micropores on the shell frame and with specific surface areas as high as 525 m2 g(-1). The prepared porous carbon possessed a specific capacitance of 230 F g(-1) at a current density of 0.5 A g(-1) and could retain ∼98% of the initial capacitance after 1500 successive charge-discharge cycles. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicated that the material has a small equivalent series resistance (0.62 Ω). All of these values demonstrated that the prepared porous carbon is a promising supercapacitor material. The proposed method represents a simple approach towards the preparation of unique structures of nitrogen-containing porous carbon that exhibit the advantages of having a simple preparation process, a wide availability of precursors, flexible control of the structure, and an easier adjustment of the amount of heteroatoms.