Nitrogenated porous carbon electrodes for supercapacitors

Nitrogenated porous carbon materials, made by coating the pore surface with nitrogen functional groups from the pyrolysis of hexamine, were characterized and tested for supercapacitor applications. From X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the nitrogen content of the nitrogenated carbon sample was found to be 14 wt%. Electrochemical properties from potentiostatic and galvanostatic measurements, and open circuit voltage (OCV) were used to evaluate the effect of nitrogen in porous carbon electrodes. The nitrogenated carbon exhibits pseudocapacitive behavior and an increase in capacitance that is almost double that of plain porous carbon. The cyclic stability is also improved, as the sample retains its high capacitance even after extensive cycling. Also, the nitrogenated carbon shows battery-like characteristics with an initial OCV of ca. 0.4 V, and an OCV of ca. 0.3 V after cycling.