Polyacrylonitrile-b-polystyrene block copolymer-derived hierarchical porous carbon materials for supercapacitor Articles uri icon

publication date

  • December 2022

start page

  • 1

end page

  • 15

issue

  • 23, 5109

volume

  • 14

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 2073-4360

abstract

  • 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 (f PS ≈ 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).

subjects

  • Biology and Biomedicine
  • Chemistry
  • Materials science and engineering

keywords

  • block copolymer template; hierarchical pores; porous carbon fibers; supercapacitor