Abstract:

To improve the charge/discharge cycle stability of a nanostructured manganese dioxide electrode for supercapacitor applications, a series of nano-MnO2/carbon nanotube (CNT) hybrid electrode materials with different mass fractions of CNTs were prepared. The materials were prepared using a room-temperature solid-grinding reaction betweenMn(OAc)2·4H2Oand NH4HCO3 in the presence of CNTs to obtain a precursor. This was followed by calcination and an acid-treatment process and the products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface analysis. XRD results indicated that the MnO2 in the composites was nanostructured 酌-MnO2. Electrochemical performance of the MnO2/CNT composite electrodes in 1 mol·L-1 LiOH alkaline aqueous electrolyte was studied and compared to a pure nano-MnO2 electrode without CNTs. The MnO2/CNT composite electrodes with 10% or 20% (w, mass fraction) CNTs showed far superior cycle stability than the pure MnO2 electrode. The MnO2/CNT composite electrode with 10% CNTs exhibited good cycling stability and also a high specific capacitance of 200 F·g-1 at a high charge/discharge current rate of 1000 mA·g-1.

Key words: Nanostructured manganese dioxide/carbon nanotube composite, Super capacitive property, Cyclability, Room-temperature solid-grinding reaction, Lithium hydroxide electrolyte