Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2011, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (02): 443-448.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB20110225

• ELECTROCHEMISTRY AND NEW ENERGY • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Synthesis and Electrochemical Performance of Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotubes

LI Li-Xiang, LIU Yong-Chang, GENG Xin, AN Bai-Gang   

  1. Institute for Materials Electrochemistry Process Research, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Anshan 114051, China
  • Received:2010-09-03 Revised:2010-12-02 Published:2011-01-25
  • Contact: LI Li-Xiang E-mail:lxli2005@126.com
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province, China (20061078) and Education Department Foundation of Liaoning Province, China (L2010197).

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Abstract:

We treated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with hydrazine hydrate and diethylenetriamine separately and characterized them using scanning electron spectroscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). SEM indicated that the treated CNTs retained the length/diameter ratio of the pure CNTs and XPS showed that nitrogen was doped in the CNTs. XPS analysis also indicated that the carbon/nitrogen atomic ratio of the CNTs treated by hydrazine hydrate was 95/2, which was much higher than the 96/0.5 for the CNTs treated by diethylenetriamine. The hydrophilicity of the CNTs was found to be much higher after N-doping and it increased with an increase in the N content. Therefore, the water dispersibility of the N-doped CNTs treated by hydrazine hydrate was better than that of the N-doped CNTs treated by diethylenetriamine. As electrode materials for electrochemical capacitors, nitrogen functional groups contribute to the pseudo-Faradic capacitance but their cyclic performance still needs to be improved. Because of the good hydrophilicity of the N-doping CNTs, which improves the wettability of the CNTs for the electrolyte, the specific capacitance of the N-doping CNT electrode is still slightly higher than that of the pure CNT electrode after cycling.

Key words: Carbon nanotubes, N-doping, Hydrazine hydrate, Diethylenetriamine, Electrochemistry