Size-controllable synthesis of monodispersed nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres from polydopamine for high-rate supercapacitors

Abstract

Monodispersed nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres with tunable particle size (100–230 nm) were synthesized via self-polymerization of biochemical dopamine in the presence of hexamethylenetetramine as a buffer and F127 as a size controlling agent. Hexamethylenetetramine can mildly release NH_3, which in turn initiates the polymerization reaction of dopamine. The carbon nanospheres obtained exhibited a significant energy storage capability of 265 F·g^–1 at 0.5 A·g^–1 and high-rate performance of 82% in 6 mol·L^–1 KOH (20 A·g^–1), which could be attributed to the presence of abundant micro-mesoporous structure, doped nitrogen functional groups and the small particle size. Moreover, the fabricated symmetric supercapacitor device displayed a high stability of 94% after 5000 cycles, revealing the considerable potential of carbon nanospheres as electrode materials for energy storage.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

carbon nanospheres / size-controlled / nitrogen-doped / high-rate / supercapacitors

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Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts to declare.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. ZR2019QEM005), Project of Shandong Province Higher Educational Young Innovative Talent Introduction and Cultivation Team [Environment Function Material Innovation Team].

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-023-2326-8 and is accessible for authorized users.

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