Synthesis and physical/electrochemical characterisation of nitrogen-doped carbon/activated carbons as an excellent electrode material for electrochemical capacitor applications

Highly porous nitrogen doped carbon / activated carbons were synthesised through polycondensation of resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) where nitrogen was incorporated into polymer matrix using melamine as nitrogen source. N-doped carbon / activated carbons were characterised for their physical structure and their electrochemical performance was analysed when used as electroactive material in electrochemical capacitor cell.
Porous parameters of N-doped carbon / activated carbons was characterised by nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurements. There was no significant change in average pore size however enormous increase in specific surface area from 841m²g^-1 to 1372 m²g^-1 was observed after activation processes at elevated temperature under CO₂. N-doped carbon / activated carbons were characterised electrochemically using cyclic voltammetry measurements which showed nitrogen enriched activated carbons (mRFCA) exhibited the improved specific capacitance of up to 289 Fg^-1 as compare to 208 Fg^-1 of nitrogen enriched carbon (mRFC) at the scan rate of 5 mVs^-1 using 6M KOH electrolyte. Improved capacitive performance of mRFCA can be attributed to the combined effect of the increased specific surface area and extra pseudocapacitance generated due to nitrogen- containing functionalities incorporated into the bulk of the electroactive material.