Poly(ionic liquid)-derived N-doped carbons with hierarchical porosity for lithium and sodium ion batteries

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple method to produce N-doped porous carbons from poly(ionic liquids) with hierarchical structures, enhancing their performance as electrodes in lithium and sodium ion batteries.

Contribution

It introduces a novel synthesis approach for N-doped carbons with hierarchical porosity using PIL and GO-stabilized templates, improving battery electrode properties.

Findings

Achieved a specific surface area of 561 m2/g in NPCs.

Delivered 1013 mAh/g capacity in LIBs over 200 cycles.

Maintained 204 mAh/g capacity in SIBs over 100 cycles.

Abstract

The performance of lithium and sodium ion batteries relies notably on the accessibility to carbon electrodes of controllable porous structure and chemical composition. This work reports a facile synthesis of well-defined porous N-doped carbons (NPCs) using a poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) as precursor, and graphene oxide (GO)-stabilized poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanoparticles as sacrificial template. The GO-stabilized PMMA nanoparticles were first prepared and then decorated by a thin PIL coating before carbonization. The resulting NPCs reached a satisfactory specific surface area of up to 561 m2/g and a hierarchically meso- and macroporous structure while keeping a nitrogen content of 2.6 wt %. Such NPCs delivered a high reversible charge/discharge capacity of 1013 mA h/g over 200 cycles at 0.4 A/g for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), and showed a good capacity of 204 mA h/g over 100 cycles at 0.1 A/g for sodium ion batteries (SIBs).