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High N-doped hierarchical porous carbon networks with expanded interlayers for efficient sodium storage

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Abstract

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have been attracting considerable attention as a promising candidate for large-scale energy storage because of the abundance and low-cost of sodium resources. However, lack of appropriate anode materials impedes further applications. Herein, a novel self-template strategy is designed to synthesize uniform flowerlike N-doped hierarchical porous carbon networks (NHPCN) with high content of N (15.31 at.%) assembled by ultrathin nanosheets via a self-synthesized single precursor and subsequent thermal annealing. Relying on the synergetic coordination of benzimidazole and 2-methylimidazole with metal ions to produce a flowerlike network, a self-formed single precursor can be harvested. Due to the structural and compositional advantages, including the high N doping, the expanded interlayer spacing, the ultrathin two-dimensional nano-sized subunits, and the three-dimensional porous network structure, these unique NHPCN flowers deliver ultrahigh reversible capacities of 453.7 mAh·g−1 at 0.1 A·g−1 and 242.5 mAh·g−1 at 1 A·g−1 for 2,500 cycles with exceptional rate capability of 5 A·g−1 with reversible capacities of 201.2 mAh·g−1. The greatly improved sodium storage performance of NHPCN confirms the importance of reasonable engineering and synthesis of hierarchical carbon with unique structures.

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Acknowledgements

The work was financially supported by the National Natural Science of Foundation of China (No. 51672114), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20181469), and the Zhenjiang Key Research and Development Project (Social Development) (No. SSH20190140049).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, China

    Dongqin Su, Man Huang, Junhao Zhang, Xingmei Guo, Jiale Chen, Yanchun Xue & Aihua Yuan

  2. School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Qinghong Kong

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  1. Dongqin Su
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  2. Man Huang
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  3. Junhao Zhang
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  4. Xingmei Guo
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Correspondence to Junhao Zhang or Aihua Yuan.

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Su, D., Huang, M., Zhang, J. et al. High N-doped hierarchical porous carbon networks with expanded interlayers for efficient sodium storage. Nano Res. 13, 2862–2868 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2944-0

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