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Core–shell N-doped carbon spheres for high-performance supercapacitors

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Abstract

Surface-nitrogen enriched carbon spheres with core–shell structure were prepared by a facile and general strategy with dopamine and melamine as the precursors. This strategy includes three steps: the polymerization of dopamine to form polydopamine (PDA) spheres, the soaking of spheres in melamine (MA) and the pyrolysis of PDA spheres/MA. The resulting carbon spheres as electrode materials for supercapacitors display better performances than common N-doped carbon spheres (NCS) with a high specific capacitance (203 F/g at 0.5 A/g), acceptable rate capability (66% retention at 5 A/g) and good long-term stability (94.6% retention after 5000 cycles at 2 A/g). This formation of polymer spheres-soaking in inflating agent-pyrolysis strategy makes it easy to produce surface-nitrogen-rich and hierarchically porous carbon spheres on a large scale with different sources. These carbon spheres hold great potential applications in energy storage and conversion devices such as supercapacitors and fuel cells due to their unique structure and hierarchical composition.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Y. L. Wang thanks the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (1408085QB27) for financial support. Dr. X. W. Liu is grateful for the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21471007). Dong is grateful for the financial support from the AHNU Innovation Foundation (2016yks056). This work was also supported by Foundation for Innovation Team of Bioanalytical Chemistry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Ministry of Education, Anhui Key Laboratory of Chemo-Biosensing, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, China

    Yinling Wang, Shengye Dong, **aoqin Wu, **aowang Liu & Maoguo Li

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  1. Yinling Wang
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  2. Shengye Dong
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  3. **aoqin Wu
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  4. **aowang Liu
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  5. Maoguo Li
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Correspondence to Maoguo Li.

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Wang, Y., Dong, S., Wu, X. et al. Core–shell N-doped carbon spheres for high-performance supercapacitors. J Mater Sci 52, 9673–9682 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1117-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1117-3

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