Extremely facile synthesis of manganese dioxide-polyaniline nano-reticulation with enhanced electrochemical properties

Abstract

MnO2/polyaniline composite is a promising candidate for supercapacitor electrode material. However very few research has researched nano-reticulation-structured MnO2 and polyaniline composites for supercapacitor electrode materials. Former research on MnO2 and polyaniline composites shown very common electrochemical properties. In this manuscript, an extremely facile, low-cost and high-yielding preparation of MnO2-polyaniline (MP) nano-reticulation composites with enhanced electrochemical properties was developed for the first time. For MP composite, the specific capacitance based on MnO2 is 425 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1. The MP composite also exhibits excellent cycle stability, and the cycle retention keeps 95% after 10000 cycles. The outstanding performance is primarily attributed to improved electrical conductivity (compared to pure MnO2) and homogenous presence of MnO2 in the porous nano-reticulation, facilitating the fast transport of the electrolyte ions and the maximum utilization of MnO2. For MP composite, the maximum power density is 14.3 kW kg−1 (energy density is 62.4 Wh kg−1). Hence, the MP composites prepared by facile solution reaction of KMnO4 and aniline may have a promising future in applications where durable, high energy and power density are requested simultaneously.