N-doped
hierarchical mesoporous carbons have been fabricated by
using mesophase pitch (MP) as a carbon precursor and polypyrrole as
a nitrogen resource through the MCM-48 template. Carbonization temperature
plays a key role in the morphology, mesoporous structure, and electrochemical
properties of N-doped porous carbons (NPCs). At an appropriate carbonization
temperature (700 °C), as-prepared NPC-700 exhibits rich nitrogen
content (4.48 wt %), medium specific surface area (495.9 m2 g–1), and high specific capacitance of 232.2 F
g–1 at a current density of 2 A g–1 in a three-electrode system. Due to the generation of pseudocapacitance,
the specific capacitance of NPC-700 is 53.6 F g–1 higher than that of PC-700 without polypyrrole. In addition, NPC-700
shows high specific capacitance of 110.6 F g–1 at
a current density of 0.2 A g–1, a good capacitance
retention of 77.8% at the current density of 5 A g–1, and the large energy density of 15.30 Wh kg–1 at a power density of 399.9 W kg–1 in a two-electrode
system. This work provides a novel example of how N-doped porous carbons
derived from mesophase pitch and polypyrrole can be used as a promising
electrode material for potential energy storage applications.