Electrochemical Studies of One-Pot Synthesized Tetragonal Hausmannite Manganese Oxide/ Nitrogen-Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanohybrid for Supercapacitor Applications

Abstract

The increasing consumption of fossils fuel accompanied by related carbon emissions and complex set of issues associated with the generation and use of electricity has raised an urgent need for reliable, renewable and sustainable energy alternatives [1]. Remarkable progress made in nanoscience and nanotechnology brought inspiration for further development of new technologies in electrochemical energy storage. Supercapacitors (SCs) have emerged as a fast-rising class of energy storage technology and have received tremendous attention for potential applications in high-power sources [1,2]. Thus, manipulation of nanostructured materials became an important approach for the improvement of energy storage properties in SCs. Up to now, various synthetic methods have been established to improve the electrode materials for SC applications. Carbon nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene and graphene oxide (GO) have been widely used and modified to enhance their energy storage performance in SCs. Recently, much interest has been devoted to the doping of carbon materials to improve the performance of SC devices. Manganese oxide-based electrode materials characterized by their high theoretical specific surface area (1370 m2 g-1), high theoretical specific capacitance (1100 to 1300 F g-1), low-cost, abundance and environmentally friendly in nature, have attracted significant interest as active electrode materials for SCs. Although intensive study has been done on the MnO2-based pseudocapacitor, tetragonal hausmannite manganese oxide, Mn3O4, has received limited attention in SCs application [3]. Among various synthetic methods of synthesizing carbon/metal oxides nanohybrids, hydrothermal reduction of metal salts in the presence of carbon material is widely used, due to the simple operation and the low cost. This work present, one-pot synthesis of nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide decorated with hausmannite manganese oxide (N-rGO/Mn3O4 nanohybrid) and the study of its electrochemical energy storage performance for supercapacitor application. The microscopic and spectroscopic characterization of N-rGO/Mn3O4 nanohybrid and its precursor materials were acquired using SEM, EDX, Raman and XRD whereas the electrochemical characterization were acquired using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).