3D carbonaceous substrates synthesized from melamine sponges for energy storage: Influence of pyrolysis temperature in physicochemical and electrochemical properties

Abstract High-energy global requirements have caused a renewed interest in studying and developing new and improved energy storage devices and, precisely, the electrode materials that compose them, which play a fundamental role in determining the device’s performance. Carbon materials are first-class candidates due to their high electrical conductivity, chemical stability, and surface area. Although several carbon materials and their precursors have been studied, melamine sponges stand out for their nitrogen content, allowing them to act as a template and precursor for N-doped, ultralight carbon materials with good mechanical properties and a controlled pore size distribution. This work reports a simple and quick methodology to form ultralight and flexible carbon foam, along with the influence of the pyrolysis temperature on the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of 3D carbonaceous substrates used for energy storage and synthesized from melamine sponges. The substrates exhibit higher 3D porous structure than previously reported materials, with an average pore diameter of 80–90 µm. This morphology, added to the N content, promotes the remarkable electrochemical behavior (MS–950 °C) and cycling stability (MS–1000 °C) of almost 100% of capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles (≈ 60 F/g @1 A/g).