Sodium alginate-derived micropore dominated carbon 3D architectures through dual template engineering for high-performance Zn-ion hybrid capacitors

Zinc-ion hybrid capacitors (ZIHCs) represent a new generation of high-performance energy conversion equipment for their excellent energy and power densities and environmental friendliness. However, the high cost and complicated preparation process limit the application of carbon-based materials in ZIHCs, so it is advisable to design a simple strategy to fabricate advanced carbon-based electrodes. Herein, we developed sodium alginate-derived micropore dominated porous carbon (DSPCs) through a dual-template strategy. This dual-template method includes the etching of the carbon skeleton by its own sodium salt and the activation of the carbon materials by KCl. Through this strategy, the accessible surface area can be effectively increased and the pore structure can be controlled, so that DSPCs exhibit superior capacitive performance. As expected, the energy densities of the symmetric supercapacitors based on DSPCs are 10.17 and 3.8 Wh kg(-1) (power densities of 150 and 6000 W kg(-1)), respectively. The constructed ZIHCs device preform an outstanding energy density of 99.22 Wh kg(-1) (200 W kg(-1)) at an operating voltage of 0-1.8 V. Even the power density reaches up to 40 kW kg(-1) and the energy density maintain at 5.11 Wh kg(-1). This work developed a new avenue for the application of high-performance porous carbon materials in ZIHCs.