Birnessite manganese oxide nanosheets assembled on Ni foam as high-performance pseudocapacitor electrodes: Electrochemical oxidation driven porous honeycomb architecture formation

Abstract

It has not been considered in the reported literatures that the current or the cyclic number of galvanostatic charge-discharge process controls the morphology growth of manganese oxide materials. Here, standing birnessite nanosheets assembled porous honeycomb architecture is in situ formed on Ni foam by electrochemical oxidation of hydrothermally synthesized Mn3O4 nanospheres electrodes via a electrochemical cycling technique. The birnessite morphology much depends on the conditions of the electrochemical cycling. By tuning the current and cycle number, Mn3O4 nanospheres are converted to birnessite with optimal morphology, while a high pseudocapacitive performance is achieved. The optimized birnessite electrodes exhibit a high level of specific capacitance (377 F g−1 at 1 A g−1), a superior rate capability (227 F g−1 at 30 A g−1) and a good cycling stability (75% retention after 4000 cycles). This work provides useful strategies for developing high-performance manganese oxide electrodes.