Controlling the Effective Surface Area and Pore Size Distribution of sp² Carbon Materials and Their Impact on the Capacitance Performance of These Materials

Abstract

A series of sp(2) carbon materials with different specific surface area (SSA) and controlled pore size distribution (PSD) were synthesized at large scale through a facile and low-cost method. The SSA and PSD of these carbon materials were controlled by using different carbon sources and preparation methods. With different total and effective SSA (E-SSA) and PSD, the impacts on their capacitance performance were investigated thoroughly, which demonstrated that both E-SSA and PSD played the most important roles in their capacitance performance. Furthermore, theoretical modeling was performed, and the results are in agreement with the experimental results for the influence of E-SSA and PSD on their capacitance performance. Based on these, a general model using the slit/cylindrical NL-DFT approach is proposed for the estimation of the specific capacitance of sp(2) carbon materials, which offers a simple but reliable method to predict the capacitance performance of these materials, thus speeding up the design and screening of the materials for high-performance supercapacitor and other surface area related devices.

Carbon Solving Carbon's Problems: Recent Progress of Nanostructured Carbon‐Based Catalysts for the Electrochemical Reduction of CO2

“…Various carbon structures can also be coupled to form novel nanostructures with precise control over physical properties, such as pore size, pore type, particle size, and layer thickness, which is beneficial for rational optimisation of performance. [37,38] Further, it has been found that edge site carbons are more catalytically active than those carbon within the basal plane, [39] and so strategies employed to increase the density of edge sites within these carbon materials can significantly increase activity. [37,40] Presented in Section 2.2. is a brief overview of the CO 2 RR pathway and general mechanism.…”

Preparation and characterization of porous carbon from expanded graphite for high energy density supercapacitor in aqueous electrolyte

“…Since the report of Zhang et. al., several other reports based on similar method for production of porous carbons have since been published [16][17][18][19]. Herein we explore a two-step synthesis of highly porous carbon using Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and expanded graphite (EG) as carbon precursors.…”

A combined salt–hard templating approach for synthesis of multi-modal porous carbons used for probing the simultaneous effects of porosity and electrode engineering on EDLC performance

“…Recently, there has been considerable attention devoted towards understanding and tailoring the material properties [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and electrode processing conditions [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] to enhance the performance of porous carbons used as electrode materials for supercapacitors. Among the various carbon material properties, the pore size distribution has been shown to play a very significant role [1][2][3][4][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…Among the various carbon material properties, the pore size distribution has been shown to play a very significant role [1][2][3][4][6][7][8][9][10]. Hierarchically porous carbons comprised of interconnected macropores (>50 nm), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2015.01.039 0008-6223/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.…”