A dual-surfactant template system for fabricating N-doped porous carbon nanorods for use as supercapacitor electrodes

The ability to control the preparation of one-dimensional (1D) porous carbon nanorods, especially during rapid polymerization, is key to their practical application. We report a method for synthesizing 1D porous carbon nanorods, characterized by the formation of rod-like micelles that are assembled from sodium palmitate and Pluronic F127, facilitated by protonated melamine, and subsequently converted into melamine-based N-doped polymer nanorods which were carbonized to produce the corresponding N-doped carbon nanorods. The specific capacitance of the supercapacitor used the as-prepared N-doped nanorods as electrode material in a three-electrode system was calculated to be 301.66 F g−1 at a current density of 0.2 A g−1, with an ultra-high specific surface area normalized capacitance of up to 67.07 μF cm−2. The N-doping and their one-dimensionality give the nanorods a low internal resistance and good stability, making them well suited for fundamental studies and practical applications ranging from materials chemistry to electrochemical energy storage.