Improved thermal stability of melamine resin spheres and electrochemical properties of their carbon derivatives induced by F127

Melamine–formaldehyde (MF) resin-based carbon stands out among energy materials due to their superior nitrogen content and intriguing comprehensive properties; however, the inferior rate capability hinders its further application as electrode materials in supercapacitors. In this work, monodisperse melamine–formaldehyde resin microspheres (MMRMs) have been prepared by mild emulsion polymerization, with Pluronic F127 as soft template as well as stable response sites. Triblock copolymer F127 not only regulates the size of the MMRMs, but also enhances its thermal stability owing to strong hydrogen bond forces between resin oligomers and F127. Carbon derived from the subsequent pyrolysis of MMRMs (MFC-0.10-8) has unique lamellar porous architecture and much higher specific surface area (325.75 m2 g−1) compared with that of MFC-0-8 without F127 (82.18 m2 g−1), which is crucial to enhance the electrochemical performances as electrode material. The N content of the carbonized MMRMs is up to 22.0 at%, which brings considerable pseudo-capacitance and rate capability (85.5% capacitance retention from 1 to 10 A g−1). MFC-0.10-8 exhibits high gravimetric capacitance of 311 F g−1 at the current density of 0.5 A g−1 and outstanding capacitance retention with 105% of its initial capacitance after 10000 cycles in 2.0 M H2SO4 electrolyte.