Bifunctional 3D n-doped porous carbon materials derived from paper towel for oxygen reduction reaction and supercapacitor

Designing and fabricating cheap and active bifunctional materials is crucial for the development of renewable energy technologies. In this article, three-dimensional nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials (NDPC-X, in which X represents the pyrolysis temperature) were fabricated by simultaneous carbonization and activation of polypyrrole-coated paper towel protected by a silica layer followed by acid etching. The material had a high specific surface area (1,123.40 m2/g). The as-obtained NDPC-900 displayed outstanding activity as a catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as well as an electrode with a high specific capacitance in a supercapacitor in an alkaline medium. The NDPC-900 catalyst for the ORR exhibited a more positive reduction peak potential of −0.068 V (vs. Hg|HgCl2) than that of Pt/C (−0.121 V), as well as better cycling stability and stronger methanol tolerance. Moreover, the NDPC-900 had a high specific capacitance of 379.50 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g, with a retention rate of 94.5% after 10,000 cycles in 6 mol/L KOH electrolyte when used as an electrode in a supercapacitor. All these results were attributed to the effect of a large surface area, which provided electrochemically active sites. This work introduces an effective way to use biomass-derived materials for the synthesis of promising bifunctional carbon material for electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices.