Size-controllable synthesis of monodispersed nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres from polydopamine for high-rate supercapacitors

摘要

Monodispersed nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres with tunable particle size(100-230 nm)were synthesized via self-polymerization of biochemical dopamine in the presence of hexamethylenetetramine as a buffer and F127 as a size controlling agent.Hexamethylenetetramine can mildly release NH3,which in turn initiates the polymerization reaction of dopamine.The carbon nanospheres obtained exhibited a significant energy storage capability of 265 F·g^(-1)at 0.5 A·g^(-1)and high-rate performance of 82%in 6 mol·L^(-1)KOH(20 A·g^(-1)),which could be attributed to the presence of abundant micromesoporous structure,doped nitrogen functional groups and the small particle size.Moreover,the fabricated symmetric supercapacitor device displayed a high stability of 94%after 5000 cycles,revealing the considerable potential of carbon nanospheres as electrode materials for energy storage.