A Novel and Facile One-Pot Solvothermal Synthesis of PEDOT-PSS/Ni-Mn-Co-O Hybrid as an Advanced Supercapacitor Electrode Material.

Abstract

In this work, a novel and facile one-pot method has been developed for the synthesis of a hybrid consisting of Ni-Mn-Co ternary oxide and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT-PSS/NMCO) with a hierarchical three-dimensional net structure via a solvothermal-coprecipitation coupled with oxidative polymerization route. Apart from the achievement of polymerization, coprecipitation, and solvothermal in one pot, the hydroxyl (OH(-)) ions generated from the oxidative polymerization of organic monomer by neutral KMnO4 solution were skillfully employed as precipitants for metal ions. As compared with the PEDOT-PSS/Ni-Mn binary oxide, PEDOT-PSS/Co-Mn binary oxide, and PEDOT-PSS/MnO2, PEDOT-PSS1.5/NMCO exhibits overwhelmingly superior supercapacitive performance, more specifically, a high specific capacitance of 1234.5 F g(-1) at a current density of 1 A g(-1), a good capacitance retention of 83.7% at a high current density of 5 A g(-1) after 1000 cycles, an energy density of 51.9 W h kg(-1) at a power density of 275 W kg(-1), and an energy density of 21.4 W h kg(-1) at an extremely elevated power density of 5500 W kg(-1). Noticeably, the energy density and power density of PEDOT-PSS/NMCO are by far higher than those of the existing analogues recently reported. The exceptional performance of PEDOT-PSS/NMCO benefits from its unique mesoporous architecture, which could provide a larger reaction surface area, faster ion and electron transfer ability, and good structural stability. The desirable integrated performance enables the multicomponent composite to be a promising electrode material for energy storage applications.