Facile sonication synthesis of MnAl2O4/ZnO nanocomposite as an advanced electrode material for supercapacitor applications

Abstract

Present studies on maintaining, effective energy providers and storage systems have developed because of problems with energy limitations, fossil fuel depletion and pollution. Spinel oxide nanocomposite electrode material is a superior remedy for supercapacitors (SCs). Herein, we synthesized MnAl2O4 and MnAl2O4/ZnO nanocomposites using the sonication method for energy storage devices. The manufactured material’s morphology, interfacial area and structural features were determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer Teller Emmett analyses (BET) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The crystalline nature of MnAl2O4 and MnAl2O4/ZnO nanosheets was observed by the XRD analysis. The electrochemical performance of the manufactured material was determined utilizing nickel foam (NF) as a conductive surface and 2.0 M KOH electrolyte, galvanostatic charging-discharging (GCD), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) study. Electrochemical outcomes showed that MnAl2O4/ZnO nanocomposite exhibits specific capacitance (Cs) of 1490.07 F/g at 1.0 A/g with high cyclic stability over 5000th cycles. Furthermore, an energy and power density of 55.96 Wh/kg and 260 W/Kg, correspondingly, were exhibited by MnAl2O4/ZnO nanocomposite pseudocapacitors. Compared to MnAl2O4 (0.47 Ω) the charge transfer resistance (Rct) value for MnAl2O4/ZnO (0.12 Ω) was smaller calculated via Nyquist plot and exhibited steady behaviour for 50 h. The outstanding potential of the electrode material MnAl2O4/ZnO was highlighted in this work, along with a novel method for producing multi-element composite materials at a reasonable cost and with excellent performance that could find use in a variety of supercapacitor and upcoming energy storage applications.