Unconventional Carbon: Alkaline Dehalogenation of Polymers Yields N-Doped Carbon Electrode for High-Performance Capacitive Energy Storage - Carbon4Energy

Polymers are important precursors for the fabrication of carbon materials. Herein, instead of conventional polymers which contain N, O, or S, halogenated polymers were explored as another type of precursor for the synthesis of high-quality carbon materials. We found the halogen elements (F, Cl) connecting to vinylidene were highly reactive; the defunctionalization can take place a few seconds at room temperature by simple hand grinding when aided with strong inorganic alkaline. Simultaneously, dopants are highly welcomed at the halogen element-leaving sites and can be transformed into stable capacitive sites for ions. By using mixed dehalogenation agents of NaOEt and KOH, we managed to create abundant hierarchical pores (macro/meso-/micropore) in the doped carbon matrix for fast mass transportation. Very high capacitance (328 F g-1 at 0.5 A g-1) and rate capability (75.3% retention at 50 A g-1, and 62.5% retention at 100 A g-1) were observed for this halogenated polymer-derived doped carbon materials (DCM).