TY - JOUR
T1 - Well-Defined N/S Co-Doped Nanocarbons from Sulfurized PAN- b-PBA Block Copolymers
T2 - Structure and Supercapacitor Performance
AU - Yuan, Rui
AU - Wang, Han
AU - Sun, Mingkang
AU - Damodaran, Krishnan
AU - Gottlieb, Eric
AU - Kopeć, Maciej
AU - Eckhart, Karoline
AU - Li, Sipei
AU - Whitacre, Jay
AU - Matyjaszewski, Krzysztof
AU - Kowalewski, Tomasz
PY - 2019/4/26
Y1 - 2019/4/26
N2 - While nanocarbons doped with more than one heteroatom continue attracting growing interest owing to a wide range of applications, precise control of their nanostructure and porosity remains a major challenge. Herein, we report a new route to synthesize N/S co-doped nanocarbons with precise porosity control through introduction of sulfur into the synthesis copolymer-templated nitrogen-enriched carbons (CTNC). Sulfur served as both a heteroatom source and morphology stabilizing agent. The produced N/S co-doped nanocarbons showed interconnected pores with relatively high specific surface area (∼480 m2/g) and high heteroatom content (N, 8.2 atom %; S, 8.8 atom %). To demonstrate the dual benefits of sulfur stabilization (incorporation of heteroatoms and improved morphology control), such prepared nanocarbons were fabricated into supercapacitors with geometric capacitance (50 μF/cm2), well above the value observed for single N-doped carbon (33 μF/cm2). Importantly, linear relationship of mesopore size with block length of copolymer precursor was observed for N/S co-doped nanocarbons, allowing optimization of the mesopore size for supercapacitor applications. This new technique not only expands CTNC method from N-doping to N/S co-doping systems with excellent porosity control but also opens up new possibilities widely applicable to other PAN-based soft-templating systems. ©
AB - While nanocarbons doped with more than one heteroatom continue attracting growing interest owing to a wide range of applications, precise control of their nanostructure and porosity remains a major challenge. Herein, we report a new route to synthesize N/S co-doped nanocarbons with precise porosity control through introduction of sulfur into the synthesis copolymer-templated nitrogen-enriched carbons (CTNC). Sulfur served as both a heteroatom source and morphology stabilizing agent. The produced N/S co-doped nanocarbons showed interconnected pores with relatively high specific surface area (∼480 m2/g) and high heteroatom content (N, 8.2 atom %; S, 8.8 atom %). To demonstrate the dual benefits of sulfur stabilization (incorporation of heteroatoms and improved morphology control), such prepared nanocarbons were fabricated into supercapacitors with geometric capacitance (50 μF/cm2), well above the value observed for single N-doped carbon (33 μF/cm2). Importantly, linear relationship of mesopore size with block length of copolymer precursor was observed for N/S co-doped nanocarbons, allowing optimization of the mesopore size for supercapacitor applications. This new technique not only expands CTNC method from N-doping to N/S co-doping systems with excellent porosity control but also opens up new possibilities widely applicable to other PAN-based soft-templating systems. ©
KW - copolymer-templated nitrogen-enriched carbons (CTNC)
KW - porosity control
KW - structure
KW - sulfur stabilization
KW - supercapacitor
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074140086&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsanm.9b00340
DO - 10.1021/acsanm.9b00340
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074140086
SN - 2574-0970
VL - 2
SP - 2467
EP - 2474
JO - ACS Applied Nano Materials
JF - ACS Applied Nano Materials
IS - 4
ER -