High energy/power density, capacitance, and long-life cycles are urgently demanded for energy storage electrodes. Porous carbons as benchmark commercial electrode materials are underscored by their (electro)chemical stability and wide accessibility, yet are often constrained by moderate performances associated with their powdery status. Here via controlled vacuum pyrolysis of a poly(ionic liquid) membrane template, advantageous features including good conductivity (132 S cm-1 at 298 K), interconnected hierarchical pores, large specific surface area (1501 m2 g-1), and heteroatom doping are realized in a single carbon membrane electrode. The structure synergy at multiple length scales enables large areal capacitances both for a basic aqueous electrolyte (3.1 F cm-2) and for a symmetric all-solid-state supercapacitor (1.0 F cm-2), together with superior energy densities (1.72 and 0.14 mW h cm-2, respectively) without employing a current collector. In addition, theoretical calculations verify a synergistic heteroatom co-doping effect beneficial to the supercapacitive performance. This membrane electrode is scalable and compatible for device fabrication, highlighting the great promise of a poly(ionic liquid) for designing graphitic nanoporous carbon membranes in advanced energy storage.
Keywords: carbon membranes; hierarchical nanoporosity; high energy density; poly(ionic liquid)s; superior areal capacitance.