Bamboo fiber-derived porous carbon microspheres decorated with MnO2 for enhanced supercapacitor performance

Abstract

Manganese dioxide holds great potential as a pseudocapacitive material for supercapacitors. However, its limited electrical conductivity hampers the realization of its theoretically predicted capacitance. In this study, we successfully synthesized MnO2 in-situ on porous carbon microspheres derived from bamboo pulp fibers using a hydrothermal method. The morphology and phase of MnO2 were controlled by adjusting reduction reaction of KMnO4. Porous carbon spheres coated with sheet-like δ-MnO2 were obtained at a low Mn/C ratio, resulting in an impressive specific surface area of 401.4 m2 g−1. The composite exhibited remarkable specific capacitance of 364.4 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1 and exhibited excellent capacitance retention of 99.7 % after undergoing 10,000 cycles. Incorporation of MnO2 improved the capacitance performance of porous carbon spheres by 81 %. This study presents promising prospects for the sustainable and environmentally friendly production of bamboo-derived carbon composite materials for supercapacitors.