Boosting supercapacitor performance through the facile synthesis of boron and nitrogen co-doped resin-derived carbon electrode material

In this study, we present the synthesis of porous carbon materials designated as B, N co-doped porous carbon materials (PRNB), co-doped with boron and nitrogen through a two-step carbonization process of self-made phenolic resin. Among them, urea, boric acid, and potassium oxalate were used as the heteroatom dopants and activator, respectively. The co-doping of boron and nitrogen induced a unique electronic structure, resulting in improved capacitance performance compared to single-doped materials. Moreover, the addition of potassium oxalate as an activator facilitated the etching of the carbon framework during pyrolysis. Owing to the co-doping effect of boron and nitrogen and the abundant micropores, the PRNB material exhibited a remarkably high specific capacitance of 330 F g-1 at 1 A g-1. It also displayed excellent rate performance (70 %) and stability, with only a 6 % loss after 10,000 cycles compared to other materials. The symmetric electrode based on PRNB achieved an energy density of up to 29.7 Wh kg-1 in a neutral electrolyte, which provides a novel approach for resin-derived carbon to improve electrochemical performance.