Construction of N-Doped Hollow Carbon Nanospheres Through a Novel Self-Template Strategy as High-Performance Electrode Materials for Supercapacitors

Abstract

N-doped hollow carbon nanospheres (NHCSs) with mesopores-rich hierarchical structure have been synthesized by a self-template strategy using resorcinol-formaldehyde resin as precursors. The crucial point of this strategy is the selective dissolution of acetones for oligomers and subsequent rearrangement dependent on the structure-directing agent (CTAB). The large specific surface area (1325.0 m2 g−1), abundant and accessible mesopores (6.6 nm), unexpected nitrogen doping concentration (3.5 wt.%), and favorable graphitization (0.88), enable the as-prepared NHCSs to be a candidate for energy storage materials. When utilized as supercapacitor electrode, the NHCSs exhibit high specific capacitance of 293.1 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, impressive rate performance of 225.0 F g−1 at 20 A g−1, and good cycling performance (over 88.24% the peak capacity was retained after 5000 cycles at 5 A g−1). The self-template strategy displays potential prospects as a versatile route to reconstruct porous structures of carbon materials from phenolic resin polymers, thereby broadening the applications in drug delivery, adsorption, and energy storage systems.