Surficial nanoporous carbon with high pyridinic/pyrrolic N-Doping from sp³/sp²-N-rich azaacene dye for lithium storage

Rationally designed pyridinic/pyrrolic N-doping of anodic carbonaceous materials is significant but rare for lithium storage materials. Herein, two highly pyridinic/pyrrolic N-doped carbon materials i.e. the pristine material (NC, N content 10.9 wt%) and template (NPC, N content 12.6 wt%) are predictively achieved by the direct pyrolyzation of the azaacene dye with a high sp³/sp²-N content (13.6 wt%). Their total amount of pyridinic and pyrrolic content is as high as 7 at% (NC)/6.98 at% (NPC), which is close to the theoretical value (9.1 at%) with less/no graphitic N. Both of them present higher capacities of 1094.79 mA h g^-1 and 411.3 mA h g^-1, respectively, by the 3^rd cycle at 100 mA g^-1. Featured by surficial bumps and hollows of NPC particles, the NPC electrode not only exhibits a first reversible specific discharge capacity as high as 1178.9 mA h g^-1 at a 100 mA g^-1 current density but is also stabilized at 614 mA h g^-1 after 200 cycles at a 200 mA g^-1 current density. Our results indicate that the sp³/sp²-N-rich azaacene dye can be a useful highly pyridinic/pyrrolic N-doped carbon source for high performance anodic materials.