Ultralong-Life Supercapacitors Using Pyridine-Derived Porous Carbon Materials

Supercapacitors are widely used in power reserves and portable power devices because of their rapid charge and discharge rates and excellent cycle performance. Carbon materials have the characteristics of large specific surface areas, excellent electrical conductivity, good chemical stability, and low price, so they are very attractive as electrode materials for supercapacitors. In recent decades, the electrochemical properties of supercapacitors based on porous carbon have attracted much interest. Through the design of supercapacitors of reasonable appearance, pore shape, and surface characteristics, their electrochemical performance has been significantly improved. Herein, a simple and easy process is developed to synthesize a new kind of porous carbon materials with N,O-doping. The constructed supercapacitor with the as-prepared carbon material exhibits excellent capacitance performance and rapid charge and discharge rates (<1 s, 20 A/g, two-electrode cell), ultralong cycle life (>89,000 cycles, 10 A/g), large specific capacitance (276.5 F/g, 0.5 A/g), and excellent energy density (38.4 W/h/kg). Its superior properties make it one of the best candidate electrode materials for supercapacitors derived from ligands. Its excellent supercapacitor performance is probably related to its high ion-accessible specific surface area, hierarchical regular pore structure, and well N,O-doping on the surface of the carbon composite. This study provides a feasible strategy for the development of high-performance supercapacitors suitable for commercial applications.