Templated preparation of hierarchically porous nitrogen-doped carbon electrode material via a mild phase inversion route for high-performance supercapacitor

Abstract By using poly (vinylidenefluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) as the template, a kind of nitrogen-doped carbon monolith with well-distributed hierarchical pores was prepared through a modified phase–inversion method. Due to the hierarchically porous structure and proper doping level, the synthesized electrode material delivered superior specific capacitances (312.2 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 and 217.6 F g−1 at 20 A g−1), as well as remarkable specific energy and power (7.1 Wh kg−1 at 250 W kg−1). More significantly, its high chemical and structural stability allow it to reach 109.7% of the original capacitance after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles at the current density of 20 A g−1. The simple yet efficient synthetic strategy, unique porous structure, and thus the enhanced electrochemical capacitive performances of the prepared nitrogen-doped carbon not only make it a promising electrode material for energy storage devices, but also bring new ideas for the controllable preparation of polymer-derived hierarchically porous carbon materials.