Easy Synthesis of Hierarchical Carbon Spheres with Superior Capacitive Performance in Supercapacitors

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

<P>An easy template-free approach to the fabrication of pure carbon microspheres has been achieved via direct pyrolysis of as-prepared polyaromatic hydrocarbons including polynaphthalene and polypyrene. The polyaromatics were synthesized from aromatic hydrocarbons (AHCs) using anhydrous zinc chloride as the Friedel–Crafts catalyst and chloromethyl methyl ether as a cross-linker. The experimental results show that the methylene bridges between phenyl rings generate a hierarchical porous polyaromatic precursor to form three-dimensionally (3D) interconnected micro-, meso-, and macroporous networks during carbonization. These hierarchical porous carbon aggregates of spherical carbon spheres exhibit faster ion transport/diffusion behavior and increased surface area usage in electric double-layer capacitors. Furthermore, micropores are present in the 3D interconnected network inside the cross-linked AHC-based carbon microspheres, thus imparting an exceptionally large, electrochemically accessible surface area for charge accumulation.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B>
<IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/langd5/2013/langd5.2013.29.issue-39/la4026969/production/images/medium/la-2013-026969_0012.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/la4026969'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>