Electrochemical behavior of boron-doped mesoporous graphene depending on its boron configuration.

Boron-doped mesoporous graphene (BMG) was synthesized via a hydrothermal process (BMG-h), utilizing the soft-template route tri-block co -polymer P123. To control the porous structure and boron configuration (BCO 2 and BC 2 O) of the graphitic domain, the obtained BMG-h was calcined at 1000 °C (BMG-c). The structural and compositional changes of the BMG were investigated by XRD, Raman, XPS, and N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherm measurements. The materials obtained have high BET specific surface area of up to 1102 m2 g−1 for BMG-c, and 997 m2 g−1 for BMG-h. With the heat treatment, there was an increase in specific surface area, and a decrease in oxygen contents. Herein, calcination was introduced to control the boron configuration. From the XPS survey spectra, the atomic composition of the BMG-h was C (70.6 at%), O (16.4 at%), and B (12.9 at%), while that of the BMG-c was C (73.3 at%), O (15.1 at%), and B (11.5 at%). From B1 s fitting analysis, BMG-h was dominant in the BCO 2 configuration. However, on heat treatment, BCO 2 peak reduction occurs during the thermal process, thus BC 2 O was prevalent in the graphene lattice of the BMG-c samples. We successfully controlled the specific surface area and configuration of boron in mesoporous graphene. BMG-h has more pseudo-capacitance behavior than BMG-c, because of the high boron and oxygen contents. Therefore, the control of porous structure and the boron configuration of BMG played an important role in providing the good specific capacitance of 336 F g−1 for the BMG-h, and 169 F g−1 for BMG-c, at a specific current density of 0.1 A g−1. Unlabelled Image • Hydrothermal synthesis of boron doped mesoporous graphene (BMG) using boric acid precursor. • The obtained BMGs show high specific surface area of 1102 m2 g-1 for BMG-c, and 997 m2 g-1 for BMG-h • The various boron configurations (BCO 2 and BC 2 O) contribute to electrochemical performance differently. • BMG electrodes exhibited enhanced specific capacitance, (336 F g-1 and 169 F g-1) for the BMG-h, and BMG-c, at a specific current density of 0.1 A g-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]