Carbon-based supercapacitors, as a class of state-of-the-art energy storage devices, can be used in electrical vehicles, digital devices, pulsing techniques, etc. One of the most important issues in the enhancement of capacitive behavior is to develop novel carbon electrode materials with numerous accessible micropores and good electric conductivity, which are two factors often in opposition to each other. Referring the high electric conductivity of graphene layer which can also shortening diffusion path, we consider fabricating thin layered graphene/carbon electrode materials supplying abundant active sites for charges storage and simultaneously enhancing the electron transport and diffusion of electrolyte ions, thus achieving high performance. We report a novel synthesis for porous carbon nanosheets by a wet-chemistry synthesis using graphene oxides or ionic liquid functionalized graphene oxide (IL-functionalized GO) sheets as the shape-directing agent and a resorcinol/formaldehyde polymer as the carbon precursor. The thickness of the carbon sheets can be precisely controlled over the nanometer length scale. When used as the electrode for supercapacitors, the obtained carbon sheets show excellent rate capability and long-term stability. Our synthesis strategy may open a window for the novel design of carbon nanosheets and graphene-based hybrids. The nanosized microporous carbon sheets are favorable to the accessibility the rapid diffusion of organic electrolyte ions. Meanwhile, the interlayered graphene layers could facilitate the transport of electrons during the processes of charging and discharging, which leads to the outstanding energy storage performance.

Porous carbon nanosheets with precisely tunable thickness for use in high rate and long cycle life supercapacitors

248th National Meeting (2014)

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