Rational design of manganese dioxide decorated skeleton of colloidal mesoporous carbon nanocomposites for supercapacitors

Abstract

Colloidal mesoporous carbon (MC) supported MnO2 nanocomposites have been synthesized via a facile and cost-effective strategy at room temperature. The structure and morphology of as-prepared nanocomposites are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), nitrogen adsorption, focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The as-obtained three-dimensional architecture can be well controlled by tailoring preparative parameters (e.g., the ratio of KMnO4 and MC) and applied as supercapacitor electrodes. Cycle voltammetric (CV) and galvanostatic charge–discharge (GC) measurements present MC–MnO2 composites exhibit the optimized pseudocapacitance performance (270.5Fg−1) with newfangled cycling stability, and ideal rate capability owning to rational design of the novel nanostructures. In principle, these findings exhibit potential in developing long cycling and quick-charge/slow-discharge supercapacitors for practical applications.