Facile Synthesis of N-Doped Porous Carbon Materials Derived from Bombyx Mori Silk for High-Performance Symmetric Supercapacitors

Heteroatom doping and structural modification can significantly improve the electrochemical properties of carbon materials, but it is difficult to achieve synchronous control of the two. To this end, N-doped porous carbon material (BCNK) was synthesized using bombyx mori silk as carbon source, melamine and KHCO3 as activators. When only melamine is added, the prepared carbon material (BCN) only increases the heteroatom content. When only KHCO3 is added, the prepared carbon material (BCK) only increases the specific surface area and pore volume. The microstructure and heteratom content of carbon materials can be controlled simultaneously by adding two activators at the same time. Electrochemical tests show that the electrochemical performance of BCNK is higher than that of BCN and BCK. It is worth mentioning that the specific surface area of BCNK is much lower than that of BCK, and the heteroatom content is higher than that of BCK, indicating that increasing the heteroatom content is more conducive to achieving excellent electrochemical performance than increasing the specific surface area. This study not only provides a new way for the application of silk in supercapacitors, but also enables researchers to re-understand the relationship between the structure and electrochemical properties of carbon materials.