Fabrication of Boron-Doped Activated Carbon for Zinc-Ion Hybrid Supercapacitors

Zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZICs) have recently been spotlighted as energy storage devices due to their high energy and high power densities. However, despite these merits, ZICs face many challenges related to their cathode materials, activated carbon (AC). AC as a cathode material has restrictive electrical conductivity, which leads to low capacity and lifetime at high current densities. To overcome this demerit, a novel boron (B) doped AC is suggested herein with improved electrical conductivity thanks to B-doping effect. Especially, in order to optimize B-doped AC, amounts of precursors are regulated. The optimized B-doped AC electrode shows a good charge-transfer process and superior electrochemical performance, including high specific capacity of 157.4 mAh g^-1 at current density of 0.5 A g^-1, high-rate performance with 66.6 mAh g^-1 at a current density of 10 A g^-1, and remarkable, ultrafast cycling stability (90.7 % after 10,000 cycles at a current density of 5 A g^-1). The superior energy storage performance is attributed to the B-doping effect, which leads to an excellent charge-transfer process of the AC cathode. Thus, our strategy can provide a rational design for ultrafast cycling stability of next-generation supercapacitors in the near future.

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