Designed formation of hollow particle-based nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers for high-performance supercapacitors

• Main Authors: Chen, Li-Feng, Lu, Yan, Yu, Le, Lou, Xiong Wen (David)
• Other Authors: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Supercapacitors; Nanofibers
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/82269; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/43507
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Carbon-based materials, as one of the most important electrode materials for supercapacitors, have attracted tremendous attention. At present, it is highly desirable but remains challenging to prepare one-dimensional carbon complex hollow nanomaterials for further improving the performance of supercapacitors. Herein, we report an effective strategy for the synthesis of hollow particle-based nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (HPCNFs-N). By embedding ultrafine zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) nanoparticles into electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN), the as-prepared composite nanofibers are carbonized into hierarchical porous nanofibers composed of interconnected nitrogen-doped carbon hollow nanoparticles. Owing to its unique structural feature and the desirable chemical composition, the derived HPCNFs-N material exhibits much enhanced electrochemical properties as an electrode material for supercapacitors with remarkable specific capacitance at various current densities, high energy/power density and long cycling stability over 10 000 cycles.