Catalytic graphitization assisted synthesis of Fe3C/Fe/graphitic carbon with advanced pseudocapacitance

Aoping Guo; Xiaobao Zhang; Baiyi Shao; Song Sang; Xiaojing Yang

doi:10.1039/d1ra08834c

Catalytic graphitization assisted synthesis of Fe₃C/Fe/graphitic carbon with advanced pseudocapacitance

RSC Adv. 2022 Mar 10;12(13):7935-7940. doi: 10.1039/d1ra08834c. eCollection 2022 Mar 8.

Authors

Aoping Guo¹, Xiaobao Zhang¹, Baiyi Shao¹, Song Sang¹, Xiaojing Yang¹

Affiliation

¹ Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Conversion and Storage Materials, College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University No. 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian District Beijing 100875 China [email protected].

Abstract

We report an environmentally friendly strategy for the synthesis of Fe₃C/Fe/graphitic carbon based on hydrothermal carbonization and graphitization of carbon spheres with potassium ferrate (K₂FeO₄) at 800 °C. The obtained sample consisting of Fe₃C/Fe nanoparticles and graphitic carbon (FC-1-8) delivered an enhanced pseudocapacitance of 428.0 F g^-1 at a current density of 1 A g^-1. After removal of the Fe₃C/Fe electroactive materials, the graphitic carbon (FC-1-8-HCl) possessed a large specific surface area (SSA) up to 2813.6 m² g^-1 with a capacity of 243.3 F g^-1 at 1 A g^-1, far outweighing the other amorphous carbon electrodes of FC-0-8 (carbon spheres annealed at 800 °C without the treatment of K₂FeO₄). The graphitic material with a porous structure could offer more electroactive sites and improved conductivity of the sample. This method provided guidelines for the synthesis of superior performance supercapacitors with synchronous graphitic carbon and electroactive species.