Issue 41, 2016

Electrospun nanofiber-supported carbon aerogel as a versatile platform toward asymmetric supercapacitors

Abstract

As a novel kind of carbon-based material, carbon aerogels have attracted widespread attention owing to their integrated properties of a large internal surface area, small pore size, and outstanding mechanical strength. In this study, a fascinating carbon aerogel has been rationally designed with a unique cellular structure, consisting of one-dimensional carbon nanofibers derived from oxidized polyacrylonitrile (o-PAN) and two-dimensional carbon sheets originating from polyimide (PI). The interconnected o-PAN/PI (oPP) carbon aerogel exhibits low density but increased mechanical strength and can not only act as a versatile adsorbent but also as an ideal template for the in situ growth of MnO2 nanosheets to obtain oPP@MnO2 hybrid carbon aerogel. The oPP@MnO2 composite aerogel exhibits extraordinary electrochemical characteristics with a maximum specific capacitance of 1066 F g−1, approaching the theoretical value (1370 F g−1) of MnO2. Moreover, an assembled oPP@MnO2//activated oPP (A-oPP) asymmetric supercapacitor delivers a considerably high energy density of up to 30.3 W h kg−1, highlighting the advantages of the unique cellular structure of the oPP carbon aerogel and oPP@MnO2 hybrid carbon aerogel. Therefore, the successful fabrication of the oPP carbon aerogel widens the scope of traditional electrospun lamellar membranes to multi-dimensional aerogels, providing a new strategy for the construction of nanofiber-based materials for energy storage and environmental protection applications.

Graphical abstract: Electrospun nanofiber-supported carbon aerogel as a versatile platform toward asymmetric supercapacitors

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Jun 2016
Accepted
21 Aug 2016
First published
22 Aug 2016

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016,4, 15861-15869

Electrospun nanofiber-supported carbon aerogel as a versatile platform toward asymmetric supercapacitors

F. Lai, Y. Huang, L. Zuo, H. Gu, Y. Miao and T. Liu, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 15861 DOI: 10.1039/C6TA04797A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements