Carbon Nanomaterials Made from Supramolecular Hybridization of Cucurbit[6]uril with Phosphomolybdic Acid for Supercapacitors

Carbonaceous nanomaterials are attractive as supercapacitor electrode materials due to their high electronic conductivity, large specific surface area, and low cost. This study prepared a supramolecular carbon source (Q[6]-PMA) via a facile one-pot supramolecular synthesis with cucurbit[6]uril (Q[6]) and phosphomolybdic acid (PMA). Further carbonization of Q[6]-PMA at various temperatures produced N, O, P, and Mo-enriched carbon nanomaterials, Q[6]-PMAC-Xs, whose N and Mo contents were 14.08–24.67 and 24.03–51.91%, respectively. The product’s mesoporous surface area was 243.2–376.2 m 2 g –1 . A symmetric supercapacitor device with Q[6]-PMAC-600 as electrodes achieved a stable cycle performance with 106.9% capacitance retention and 96.88% coulombic efficiency after 10,000 cycles. The supercapacitor device exhibited a specific capacitance ( C sp ) of 132.34 F g –1, the highest energy density of 36.03 W h kg –1 at a power density of 560 W kg –1, and a current density of 0.2 A g –1 in a 1.0 M KCl electrolyte. In this case, the organic/inorganic hybridization with supramolecular interactions successfully explored a pathway for carbon nanomaterials.