An Ultra-microporous Carbon Material Boosting Integrated Capacitance for Cellulose-Based Supercapacitors

Abstract

A breakthrough in advancing power density and stability of carbon-based supercapacitors is trapped by inefficient pore structures of electrode materials. Herein, an ultra-microporous carbon with ultrahigh integrated capacitance fabricated via one-step carbonization/activation of dense bacterial cellulose (BC) precursor followed by nitrogen/sulfur dual doping is reported. The microporous carbon possesses highly concentrated micropores (~ 2 nm) and a considerable amount of sub-micropores (< 1 nm). The unique porous structure provides high specific surface area (1554 m² g^-1) and packing density (1.18 g cm^-3). The synergistic effects from the particular porous structure and optimal doping effectively enhance ion storage and ion/electron transport. As a result, the remarkable specific capacitances, including ultrahigh gravimetric and volumetric capacitances (430 F g^-1 and 507 F cm^-3 at 0.5 A g^-1), and excellent cycling and rate stability even at a high current density of 10 A g^-1 (327 F g^-1 and 385 F cm^-3) are realized. Via compositing the porous carbon and BC skeleton, a robust all-solid-state cellulose-based supercapacitor presents super high areal energy density (~ 0.77 mWh cm^-2), volumetric energy density (~ 17.8 W L^-1), and excellent cyclic stability.