Hierarchical porous carbon derived from one-step self-activation of zinc gluconate for symmetric supercapacitors with high energy density

Abstract

Porous carbons with high specific area surfaces are promising electrode materials for supercapacitors. However, their production usually involves complex, time-consuming, and corrosive processes. Hence, a straightforward and effective strategy is presented for producing highly porous carbons via a self-activation procedure utilizing zinc gluconate as the precursor. The volatile nature of zinc at high temperatures gives the carbons a large specific surface area and an abundance of mesopores, which avoids the use of additional activators and templates. Consequently, the obtained porous carbon electrode delivers a satisfactory specific capacitance and outstanding cycling durability of 90.9% after 50000 cycles at 10 A∙g^–1. The symmetric supercapacitors assembled by the optimal electrodes exhibit an acceptable rate capability and a distinguished cycling stability in both aqueous and ionic liquid electrolytes. Accordingly, capacitance retention rates of 77.8% and 85.7% are achieved after 50000 cycles in aqueous alkaline electrolyte and 10000 cycles in ionic liquid electrolyte. Moreover, the symmetric supercapacitors deliver high energy/power densities of 49.8 W∙h∙kg^–1/2477.8 W∙kg^–1 in the Et₄NBF₄ electrolyte, outperforming the majority of previously reported porous carbon-based symmetric supercapacitors in ionic liquid electrolytes.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

self-activation / zinc organic salts / abundant mesopores / symmetric supercapacitor / liquid electrolyte

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the starting grant from Jiangxi Normal University.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11705-022-2250-3 and is accessible for authorized users.

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