Structural disorder determines capacitance in nanoporous carbons

作者：Xinyu Liu, Dongxun Lyu, Céline Merlet, Matthew J. A. Leesmith, Xiao Hua, Zhen Xu, Clare P. Grey, Alexander C. Forse · 发表于：Science · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1126/science.adn6242 · 被引用次数：416 · 研究领域：Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication、Advancements in Battery Materials、Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

The difficulty in characterizing the complex structures of nanoporous carbon electrodes has led to a lack of clear design principles with which to improve supercapacitors. Pore size has long been considered the main lever to improve capacitance. However, our evaluation of a large series of commercial nanoporous carbons finds a lack of correlation between pore size and capacitance. Instead, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements and simulations reveal a strong correlation between structural disorder in the electrodes and capacitance. More disordered carbons with smaller graphene-like domains show higher capacitances owing to the more efficient storage of ions in their nanopores. Our findings suggest ways to understand and exploit disorder to achieve highly energy-dense supercapacitors.