Polyacrylonitrile-b-Polystyrene Block Copolymer-Derived Hierarchical Porous Carbon Materials for Supercapacitor

• The use of block copolymers as a sacrificial template has been demonstrated to be a powerful method for obtaining porous carbons as electrode materials in energy storage devices. In this work, a block copolymer of polystyrene and polyacrylonitrile (PS−b−PAN) has been used as a precursor to produce fibers by electrospinning and powdered carbons, showing high carbon yield (~50%) due to a low sacrificial block content (fPS ≈ 0.16). Both materials have been compared structurally (in addition to comparing their electrochemical behavior). The porous carbon fibers showed superior pore formation capability and exhibited a hierarchical porous structure, with small and large mesopores and a relatively high surface area (~492 m2/g) with a considerable quantity of O/N surface content, which translates into outstanding electrochemical performance with excellent cycle stability (close to 100% capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles) and high capacitance value (254 F/g measured at 1 A/g).

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

block copolymer template

porous carbon fibers

hierarchical pores

supercapacitor

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