| This dissertation explores the physicochemical characterization of nanoporous carbon materials obtained by the pyrolysis of PAN-b-PBA block copolymers and their application to supercapacitor electrodes. The introductory chapter provides an overview of porous carbon materials and their application as supercapacitor electrodes. Chapter 2 demonstrated that block copolymers containing a source of carbon (PAN) and a sacrificial block (PBA) can be converted into porous carbons with nanostructure faithfully molded by the nanostructure of the block copolymer. An unusually high capacitance per unit area (>30 microF/cm 2) of the supercapacitors fabricated from such prepared carbon was attributed to the pseudocapacitance, which was a result of the high content of nitrogen atoms originating from the PAN precursor. In Chapter 3, the concomitant decrease of capacitance per unit area and of nitrogen content with the increase of pyrolysis temperature/time further confirmed the role of nitrogen atoms as a source of pseudocapacitance. In Chapter 4, it was proven that the pore size distribution of nanoporous carbon is directly determined by the length of PBA block in block copolymer, which also affects the supercapacitor performance. In Chapter 5, the nanoporous carbon underwent CO2, and KOH activation treatment. Although the total surface area increased two-fold and five-fold, respectively, there was little difference in the mass-normalized capacitance values, which was explained by the reduced nitrogen content after the activation treatment. In Chapter 6, three kinds of silica nanoparticle-templated nanoporous carbon showed capacitance values of 40 ∼ 100 F/g in three aqueous electrolytes. In Chapter 7, various resistance-capacitance circuit models were built and simulated electrochemical data. |
