N, S, P-Tridoped Coal-Derived Hierarchically Porous Carbon Aerogel for High-Performance Supercapacitors

Carbon aerogels with high conductivity, low cost, and hierarchically porous structure are considered promising electrode materials for energy storage. Heteroatom doping as an efficient strategy to regulate the electronic structure and expose more active sites shows great potential to improve the energy storage performance. Herein, a kind of novel N, P, S-tridoped hierarchically porous coal-derived carbon aerogel (N-P-S-DCA) for high-performance supercapacitors was successfully synthesized via modified sol–gel and carbonization processes. Adding N, P, and S sources significantly modulates the morphology and structure of the aerogels and increases the defect contents. Profiting from the hierarchical pore structure, heteroatom doping, and high specific surface area, the prepared carbon aerogel exhibits excellent specific capacitance (433 F/g) and cyclic stability (88.2% after 5000 cycles). Furthermore, the assembled N-P-S-DCAs//AC device exhibits 14.5 Wh/kg energy density at a power density of 899 W/kg. This work not only provides a facile strategy for designing novel hierarchical structures with multiple heteroatom doping but also demonstrates the significance of tridoping for energy storage.