In recent times, there has been a significant demand for supercapacitors in energy storage applications due to their rapid charging– discharging capabilities, high power density, and excellent stability. Nevertheless, the synthesis of electrode materials with a substantial surface area, exceptionally high porosity, and superior electrochemical performance is still challenging. Activated carbons with a distinctive porous structure and exceptional electrochemical properties emerged as promising electrode materials for supercapacitors. In this study, we used a porous activated carbon (PAC) derived from petroleum coke followed by KOH activation as an efficient anodic electrode material. The ultra-high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area of 2105.6 m2 g− 1 with stacked layers of carbon atoms arranged in a two-dimensional hexagonal structure makes the PAC an efficient candidate for a supercapacitor electrode. The PAC delivers a specific capacitance of 470 F g− 1 at a current density of 0.5 A g− 1 over a potential window of 0 to −1 V. The excellent cycling stability in a three-electrode setup with a capacitance retention of ⁓98% even at a high current density of 10 A g− 1 makes the PAC a potential anodic electrode material for high-performance supercapacitor applications.

Doped porous carbon materials have attracted great interest owing to their excellent electrochemical performance toward energy storage applications. In this report, we described the synthesis of nitrogen-doped porous carbon (N-PC) via carbonization of a triazine-based covalent organic framework (COF) synthesized by Friedel–Crafts reaction. The as-synthesized COF and N-PC were confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The N-PC exhibited many merits including high surface area (711 m2 g−1), porosity, uniform pore size, and surface wettability due to the heteroatom-containing lone pair of electron. The N-PC showed a high specific capacitance of 112 F g−1 at a current density of 1.0 A g−1 and excellent cyclic stability with 10.6% capacitance loss after 5000 cycles at a current density of 2.0 A g−1. These results revealed that the COF materials are desirable for future research on energy storage devices.

In this study, we developed a facile and template-free strategy for the preparation of activated porous carbon beads (APCBs) from polyacrylonitrile. The chemical activation with KOH was found to enhance the pore properties, such as specific surface area (SSA), pore volume, and pore area. The APCBs exhibited a large SSA of 1147.99 m2/g and a pore area of 131.73 m2/g. The APCB-based electrodes showed a good specific capacitance of 112 F/g at 1 A/g in a 6 M KOH electrolyte, and excellent capacitance retention of 100% at a current density of 5 A/g after 1000 cycles. Therefore, the APCBs prepared in this study can be applied as electrode materials for electric double-layer capacitors.

The porous carbons with high specific surface area and excellent electrochemical properties were prepared using three types of green needle coke as raw materials. Electrochemical performances of the porous carbons derived from different microstructure green needle coke were investigated. The XRD and Raman spectra demonstrated that the content of the ordered carbon microcrystals were decreased and the content of amorphous and cross-linked structure were increased in the porous carbons with comparison to the raw materials. The results of N2 adsorption–desorption analysis verified that the content of ordered microcrystalline structure in the raw materials evidently influence the specific surface area and pore size distribution of the porous carbons. The porous carbon with 1665 m2 g−1 specific surface area and 2.89 nm average pore size has shown that the specific capacitance was 288 F g−1 at the current density 1 A g−1. Furthermore, the capacity retention was 94.93% and the Coulombic efficiency was 92.87% after 5000 charge/discharge cycles.

Co-embedded graphitic porous carbon nanofibers(Co-GPCNFs) are synthesized by using an electrospinning method. Their morphological, structural, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties are investigated. To obtain the optimum condition of Co-GPCNFs for dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs), the amount of cobalt precursor in an electrospinning solutuion are controlled to be 0 wt%(conventional CNFs), 1 wt%(sample A), and 3 wt%(sample B). Among them, sample B exhibited a high degree of graphitization and porous structure compared to conventional CNFs and sample A, which result in the performance improvement of DSSCs. Therefore, sample B showed a high current density(JSC, 12.88 mA/cm2) and excellent power conversion efficiency(PCE, 5.33 %) than those of conventional CNFs(12.00 mA/cm2, 3.78 %). This result can be explained by combined effects of the increased contact area between the electrode and elecytolyte caused by improved porosity and the increased conductivity caused by the formation of a high degree of graphitization. Thus, the Co-GPCNFs may be used as a promising alternative of Pt-free counter electrode in DSSCs.

본 연구에서는 생활오수, 산업폐수, 축산폐수 등에서 발생하는 질산성화합물 및 난분해성 화합물을 효과적으로 처리하기 위해 막분리법과 다공 전극형 전기분해법을 조합한 하 폐수의 고도처리 기술을 제안하였고 제안 시스템의 효율성을 검토하였다. 제안하는 시스템은 활성슬러지 공정, 막분리 공정, 다공 전극형 전기분해공정의 3단계로 구성하였다. 본 연구에서 구성되는 막분리 공정은 부유물질을 제거해줌으로써 전기분해공정의 부하를 최소화할 수 있는 역할을 담당할 수 있게 하여 시스템을 안정하게 운전할 수 있도록 하였다. 전기분해 하이브리드 공정에 있어서는 다공성 전극으로 구성함으로써 비표면적의 확대로 인한 전극의 효율성을 높였다. 아울러 외부전압을 인가함에 따라 처리제의 공급 없이 장치에 유입된 물을 분해시킴으로써 산화 환원 반응을 유도하였다. 즉 중간체로서 수소 자유전자 라디칼과 산소원자 라디칼이 발생되어 난분해성 유기물을 산화 분해하는 역할을 담당하도록 하였다. 이는 전극 내에서 발생하는 중간체를 폐용질의 분해에 사용하기 때문에 친환경적 처리공법이었다. 실험결과들은 제안공정이 활성슬러지공법에 비하여 우수한 공정임을 보여 주었다. SS제거율은 제안공정, 막분리공정, 활성슬러지 단독공정에서 각각 약 100%, 약 100%, 약 90%였고 COD 제거효율은 제안공정 약 92%, 막분리공정 약 84%, 활성슬러지 단독공정 약 75%였으며 T-N의 제거효율은 제안공정 약 88%, 막분리공정 약 67% 활성슬러지 단독공정 약 58%였다. 이결과는 SS의 제거에 있어서 막분리 하이브리드 공정만으로도 부유물질이 충분히 제거됨을 나타내고 있었다. COD의 제거에 있어서 막분리 하이브리드 공정은 SS분의 제거를 통한 COD와 SS이외의 유기물질이 소량제거 되었음을 보였고 전기분해 하이브리드 공정에 있어서는 유기물질의 산화반응을 통한 분해로 높은 제거효율을 보였다. T-N의 제거에 있어서는 막분리 하이브리드 공정은 SS분에 포함된 부분과 소량의 유기물에 포함된 부분이 제거되고 있는 반면 전기분해 공정에 있어서는 유기물질의 산화분해반응으로 인한 높은 제거효율을 나타내고 있었다.

A porous nickel-tin nano-dendritic electrode, for use as the anode in a rechargeable lithium battery, has been prepared by using an electrochemical deposition process. The adjustment of the complexing agent content in the deposition bath enabled the nickel-tin alloys to have specific stoichiometries while the amount of acid, as a dynamic template for micro-porous structure, was limited to a certain amount to prevent its undesirable side reaction with the complexing agent. The ratios of nickel to tin in the electro-deposits were nearly identical to the ratios of nickel ion to tin ion in the deposition bath; the particle changed from spherical to dendritic shape according to the tin content in the deposits. The nickel to tin ratio and the dendritic structure were quite uniform throughout the thickness of the deposits. The resulting nickel-tin alloy was reversibly lithiated and delithiated as an anode in rechargeable lithium battery. Furthermore, the resulting anode showed much more stable cycling performance up to 50 cycles, as compared to that resulting from dense electro-deposit with the same atomic composition and from tin electrodeposit with a similar porous structure. From the results, it is expected that highly-porous nickel-tin alloys presented in this work could provide a promising option for the high performance anode materials for rechargeable lithium batteries.

Performance of direct methanol fuel cell using high porous active carbon as an uncatalysed diffusion layer in anode (composite electrode) has been evaluated. Effects of porous active carbon in anode were investigated by galvanostatic method and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy. The single cell was operated with 2.5 M methanol at temperature of 80-120℃ and showed performance of 210-510 mA/cm2 at 0.4V. By replacing conventional electrode with composite electrode, the increment of 290 mA/cm2 in current density was obtained at 90℃and 0.4V. The potential decay of the single cell was about 14.5% for 20 days operation.