Silica-Assisted Controlled Engineering of Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Cages with Bulges for High-Performance Supercapacitors

The bulge structure of N-doped carbon cages is beneficial to improving the specific surface area and increasing the active sites of a chemical reaction. Therefore, this structure plays a role in increasing capacity in energy storage. However, the precise and most effective method of ensuring the bulge structures is still a challenge. Herein, a silica-assisted method is used to prepare N-doped carbon cages with bulges. The effective assembly of a nitrogen-rich resin and silica precursor is employed to construct the bulge structure on the surface. The reaction temperature of the assembly system and the amount of silica precursor are the key influences on the number and degree of bulges. In contrast to conventional carbon materials that have a smooth surface, the bulge structure allows for exposure and accessibility of the activity sites. Due to the N-doping features, a rich mesoporous structure and controllable bulges, the synergism of the high density, large ion-accessible surface area, and fast charge transfer, lead to high performance under the premise of high rate capability in supercapacitor. This silica-assisted strategy can also work on other preprepared corresponding templates that have a different architecture to prepare core-shell carbon tubes, carbon spheres, and carbon rods with a bulge structure.