N-doped porous carbon anchoring on carbon nanotubes derived from ZIF-8/polypyrrole nanotubes for superior supercapacitor electrodes

Abstract Developing highly porous and conductive carbon electrodes are crucial for high-performance electrochemical double-layer capacitors. Herein, we provide a supercapacitor electrode material consisting of N-doped porous carbon tightly anchored on carbon nanotubes. This nanocomposite with high specific surface area of 659.5 m 2 g −1 is fabricated by pyrolyzing the ZIF-8/polypyrrole nanotubes. When the nanocompiste is used as supercapacitor electrodes, it deliveres high specific capacitance of 248 F g −1 and 97.3% of capacitance retention after 3000 cycles. The superior capacitive performance is attributed to the conductive network for electron transport constributed by CNTs and the abundant reservoir for the charge storage derived from ZIF-derived porous carbon. Benefiting from the unique structural features and high N doping, the PC-CNTs obtained by our route could be a promising candidate of electrode mateials for high-performance supercapacitors.