Rational Design of High-Surface-Area Carbon Nanotube/Microporous Carbon Core–Shell Nanocomposites for Supercapacitor Electrodes

All-carbon-based carbon nanotube (CNT)/microporous carbon core-shell nanocomposites, in which a CNT as the core and high-surface-area microporous carbon as the shell, have been prepared by in situ resorcinol-formaldehyde resin coating of CNTs, followed by carbonization and controlled KOH activation. The obtained nanocomposites have very high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface areas (up to 1700 m(2)/g), narrow pore size distribution (<2 nm), and 1D tubular structure within a 3D entangled network. The thickness of the microporous carbon shell can be easily tuned from 20 to 215 nm by changing the carbon precursor/CNT mass ratio. In such a unique core-shell structure, the CNT core could mitigate the key issue related to the low electronic conductivity of microporous carbons. On the other hand, the 1D tubular structure with a short pore-pathway micropore as well as a 3D entangled network could increase the utilization degree of the overall porosity and improve the electrode kinetics. Thus, these CNT/microporous carbon core-shell nanocomposites exhibit a great potential as an electrode material for supercapacitors, which could deliver high specific capacitance of 237 F/g, excellent rate performance with 75% maintenance from 0.1 to 50 A/g, and high cyclability in H2SO4 electrolyte. Moreover, the precisely controlled microporous carbon shells may allow them to serve as excellent model systems for microporous carbons, in general, to illustrate the role of the pore length on the diffusion and kinetics inside the micropores.