Thermal Conversion of Triazine-Based Covalent Organic Frameworks to Nitrogen-Doped Nanoporous Carbons and Their Capacitor Performance

Abstract Nanoporous carbons with well-defined pore structures are promising for advanced energy applications. Herein, we fabricate nitrogen-doped porous carbons via direct carbonization of a triazine-based covalent organic framework (TACOF1) that acts as both intrinsic template and carbon/nitrogen source. The carbonized TACOF1 forms porous carbon that has a large surface area (1194 m2 g−1) comprised of high volumes of micro- and meso-pores (0.58 cm3 g−1 and 0.44 cm3 g−1, respectively) with a narrow size distribution. In addition, nitrogen doping of the graphitic carbons is uniformly achieved. A thermal analysis along with evolved gas investigation reveals that chemical processes, including N2 gas release and graphitization, vary pore texture formation in the resultant carbons with strong dependence on carbonization temperature. Such structural difference of the carbonized TACOF1 changes electrochemical capacitor behavior. The carbonized TACOF1 synthesized at 800 °C is found to show good capacitive performance due to its nitrogen-doped porous structures.