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Rapid fabrication of hierarchical porous SiC/C hybrid structure: toward high-performance capacitive energy storage with ultrahigh cyclability

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Abstract

Nanostructured silicon carbide (SiC) materials are expected to have bright prospect in application as high-performance electrode materials with excellent charge–discharge cycling stability. However, the exploration of SiC-based micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) still remains a grand challenge seriously hampered by low areal capacities and complicated multistep production process. Herein, we report that rationally designed SiC/C nanocomposite with hierarchical porous structure and improved electrical conductivity has been realized by a facile and rapid carbothermic reduction using silica sol and sucrose as silicon and carbon source. The amorphous carbon between SiC nanoparticles (NPs) contributes to enlarged surface areas and excellent conductivity, not only ensuring intimate contact between the electrolyte and the electrode but also providing an effective ion highway for electrolyte ions. As a result, MSCs based on SiC/C nanocomposite (Si/C mass ratio of 1:1.5) demonstrate an optimal specific areal capacitance of 11.8 mF cm−2 at 2 mV s−1, outstanding flexibility (104.5% retention of initial capacitance at 180° bending), and superior integration. Most notably, the capacitance remains at 97.3% of the initial value after 50000 charging/discharging cycles, superior to that of most advanced SiC-based MSCs ever reported. This work demonstrates an effective design for hierarchical porous SiC/C nanocomposite for energy storage, which gives significant inspirations on the exploration of high-performance SiC-based MSCs.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52002217, 91963115, 11804185, 11974208 and 21905159) and Shandong Provincial Science Foundation (Grant No. ZR2019MA054, 2019KJJ020, ZR2019BA010 and ZR2020YQ05).

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Author notes

  1. B. Yang and R. Sun contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of High Pressure Physics and Material Science, School of Physics and Physical Engineering, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, 273165, China

    Bingchao Yang, Xiangjun Li, Xiaoran Zhang, Wencai Yi, Zhuo Zhang, Hairui Sun & Xiaobing Liu

  2. Center for High Pressure Science (CHiPS), State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, 066004, China

    Rongxin Sun, Mengdong Ma, Guoying Gao & Zhisheng Zhao

  3. Administrative Office of Laboratory and Equipment, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, 273165, China

    Zhixiu Wang

  4. Key Laboratory of Magnetic Molecules and Magnetic Information Materials of Ministry of Education, Research Institute of Materials Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, 041004, China

    Ruilong Yang

  5. School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China

    Yanhui Chu

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  1. Bingchao Yang
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Yang, B., Sun, R., Li, X. et al. Rapid fabrication of hierarchical porous SiC/C hybrid structure: toward high-performance capacitive energy storage with ultrahigh cyclability. J Mater Sci 56, 16068–16081 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-021-06318-x

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