Fabrication of Porous Heteroatom‐Doped Carbon Networks via Polymer‐Assisted Rapid Thermal Annealing

Abstract

Porous carbon materials have increasingly drawn interest for applications ranging from supercapacitive energy storage to bioengineering. However, a simple and scalable fabrication process of such materials, employing low‐cost chemical compounds without sacrificing morphological and chemical control, remains lacking. Here, a novel, rapid, continuous bottom‐up strategy for synthesizing structurally tunable porous carbon network films on insulating and conductive substrates is reported. By employing rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of a commercial polyacrylonitrile‐based blend, simultaneous phase separation and thermal crosslinking are induced, effectively freezing the structure. Subsequent burning of degradable components generates a porous carbon framework ( ≈ 360 to 700 nm) doped with nitrogen and oxygen atoms. Introducing a boron‐containing reagent in the precursor solution enables boron doping and pore size reduction as small as 20 nm, enhancing materials' performance. The direct fabrication of micro‐supercapacitors on stainless steel substrates is demonstrated, achieving an areal capacitance of 12.7 mF cm−2 at 50 mV s−1, with ≈98% retention after 10 000 charge/discharge cycles. The benefit of boron doping is further highlighted for wound healing applications. Because RTA is already an established industrial method, this platform directly facilitates the synthesis of functional porous heteroatom‐doped carbon structures using commercial polymers and dopants for various applications.

Harnessing the power of thermoplastic elastomer-derived ordered mesoporous carbons through functionalization

“…Nanoporous carbons are ubiquitous for various applications, such as water remediation, 1,2 catalysis, 3–5 biomedicine, 6,7 and energy storage. 8–10 Their porous nature can allow the sorption, storage, and transport of guest molecules, while the carbon framework provides advantages of chemical inertness and performance stability. While activated carbons have been broadly used in large-scale, commercial applications due to their high surface area, their small and disordered pores (pore size < 2 nm) may limit the ability to address relatively large-sized guest molecules, such as proteins and per-/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).…”