Functional porous carbons derived from novel alkali metal-based coordination polymers for energy storage

The application of alkali metal-based coordination polymers as precursors to novel porous materials for energy storage appears as a very promising, but yet essentially unexplored approach. We provide comprehensive investigations of the alkali metal (Li, Na, K)-based coordination polymers with 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate as an organic linker, which revealed a variety of 2D and 3D coordination networks accessible in mild conditions and aqueous environment. The resulting coordination polymers were applied as self-templating precursors to porous carbon materials with hierarchical porosity, which exhibited BET areas up to 1871 m2/g. Furthermore, the developed porous carbons were applied as supercapacitors and aqueous Zn-ion capacitors (AZICs), which showed promising capacity, as well as high cyclic stability and rate capability. In particular, the top-performing device, prepared using the carbon material developed from the K-based coordination polymer, achieved one of the highest performances reported for AZICs, exhibiting a remarkable specific capacity of 754.7 F g-1 at 0.1 A g-1.