Template Assisted Synthesis of Nitrogen doped 3D-Graphene for Supercapacitor Applications

Over the last few decades, carbon based materials are extensively investigated as electrode materials for energy storage and energy conversion applications such as batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells. Among them, supercapacitors have much attention due to its high power, long cycle life and high stability. Recently, 3-dimensional (3D) graphene based materials were used for energy storage applications due to their large surface area. Here, we report the preparation of N-doped 3D-graphene materials using pluronic-P123 and polyaniline as a 3D template and nitrogen sources, respectively. The XRD analysis confirmed that the conversion of highly amorphous mixture of GO with PANI or pluronic materials during calcination process to a graphitic carbon with highly crystalline in nature. The surface morphology and porous nature of the synthesized materials are further confirmed using FE-SEM analysis. The electrochemical supercapacitor performance of the electrode materials was studied using cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge experiments in aqueous electrolytes. From the charge-discharge studies it is confirmed that the synthesized SGPP-250deliver a high specific capacitance of 349 F/g at 0.5 A/g current rate with a maximum energy density of 31Wh kg^-1 and power density of 1990 W kg^-1.