As one of the most promising fast energy storage devices, supercapacitor has been attracting intense attention for many emerging applications. However, how to enhance the electrochemical performance of electrode materials is still the main issue among various researches. In this paper, hierarchical porous carbons derived from Eleocharis dulcis has been prepared by chemical activation process with the aid of KOH at elevated temperature. Results show that the N, P co-doped porous carbon exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, it owns a specific capacitance of 340.2 F/g at 1 A/g, and obtains outstanding cycling stability of 96.9% of capacitance retention at 10 A/g after 5,000 cycles in a three-electrode system. Moreover, in the two-electrode system, the product still maintains a high specific capacitance of 227.2 F/g at 1 A/g, and achieves good electrochemical cycle stability (94.2% of capacitance retention at 10 A/g after 10,000 cycles); besides, its power/energy density are 3694.084 and 26.289 Wh/kg, respectively. Therefore, the combination of facile synthesis strategy and excellent electrochemical performance makes Eleocharis dulcis-based porous carbon as a promising electrode material for supercapacitor.

In this work, the high yield of MWNTs was prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, followed by annealing at 2000–2800 °C, and the effects of high annealing temperature on metal impurities and defects in multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) was explored. Furthermore, the annealed MWNTs were dispersed using a sand mill to make a conductive slurry, and finally the cathode LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 was added to the assembled batteries, and the application of MWNTs (slurry) as conductive agents in LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (NCM) cathode materials by sand-mill dispersion on the performance of lithium-ion batteries was investigated. The results indicate that high temperature annealing can effectively remove the residual metal impurities from MWNTs and the defects in MWNTs gradually decreases as the temperature rises. In addition, 2 wt% of MWNTs (slurry) in LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 is sufficient to form an electronically conductive network; as a result, the electronic conductivity and the high rates performance of the LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 batteries were greatly improved. The LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 battery with MWNTs slurries annealed at 2200 ℃ as a conductive additive displays the highest initial discharge capacity of 173.16 mAh·g−1 at 0.1 C. In addition, after 100 cycles, a capacity retention of 95.8% at 0.5 C and a discharge capacity of 121.75 mAh·g−1 at 5 C were observed. The multi-walled carbon nanotubes used as conductive agents in LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (NCM) cathode materials show excellent battery behaviors, which would provide a new insight for the development of high-performance novel conductive agents in lithium-ion batteries.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are the electrocatalytic materials with large specific surface area, high porosity, controllable structure and monodisperse active center, which is a promising candidate for the application of electrochemical energy conversion. However, the electrocatalytic performance of pure MOFs is seriously limited its poor conductivity and stability. In this work, high-performance electrocatalyst was fabricated through combining NiFe/MOF on nickel foam (NF) via in-situ growth strategy. Through rational control of the time and ratio in reaction precursors, we realized the effective manipulation of the growth behavior, and further investigated the electrocatalytic performance in water splitting. The catalyst presented excellent electrocatalytic performance for water splitting, with low overpotential of 260 mV in alkaline condition at a current density of 50 mA[Formula: see text], which is benefited from the large specific surface area and active sites. This study demonstrates that the rational design of NiFe MOF/NF plays a significant role in high-performance electrocatalyst.

The cathode material of layered manganese-based sodium-ion batteries has attracted the extensive attention of industries due to its simple preparation, low cost, and high theoretical specific capacity. However, a quick...

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