Porous carbon materials derived from triazine-structured COFs for high-performance zinc-ion supercapacitors

Carbon-based materials, particularly activated carbon (AC), are widely used as electrodes in supercapacitors due to their high surface area, tunable pore size, and excellent conductivity. However, the capacitive performance of AC can be further enhanced by incorporating heteroatoms to induce pseudo-capacitance. In this study, we developed triazine-based covalent organic frameworks (COFs-CTF) through imine bonding, followed by high-temperature calcination to produce porous N-doped activated carbon (C-CTF-COF). The activation of C-CTF-COF with KOH at varying temperatures resulted in a series of activated porous carbon materials (AC-CTF-COF-T), which were tested as electrode materials for zinc-ion capacitors (ZICs). Among these materials, AC-CTF-COF-800 demonstrated outstanding electrochemical performance, achieving a specific capacity of 159.8 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1 and an energy density of 113.44 Wh kg−1 at 683 W kg−1. Additionally, AC-CTF-COF-800 exhibited exceptional cycling stability, retaining 95.01 % of its initial capacity after 10,000 cycles at 10 A g−1. These results highlight the potential of AC-CTF-COF-T as a high-performance electrode material for ZICs, offering significant improvements in both energy and cycle stability.