N-doped reduced graphene oxide/MnO2/co-doped polyaniline ternary nanocomposites for electrochemical energy storage applications

The development and design of electrode materials with high electrochemical performance is of great impor-tance for developing of supercapacitors, which are accepted as reliable power sources for portable and electric vehicles. Here, we have developed for the first time a ternary nanocomposite via a simple approach in which MnO2 and polyaniline (PANI) are simultaneously synthesized on nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO) surface using dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4) as co-dopants. The synergis-tic effect between combined N-rGO, MnO2 , and co-doped PANI resulted in the N-rGO-MnO20.5-PANI6 nanocomposite exhibiting high capacitance (405.2 F/g) at a current density of 0.5 A/g and splendid rate capa-bility (capacitance retention of 96.6 % at 5 A/g) with long cycle stability (86.1 % after 5000 cycles) in a sym-metrical two-electrode configuration. The energy and power density of N-rGO-MnO2-PANI were determined to be 13.9 Wh/kg and 260.6 W/kg at a current density of 1 A/g, respectively. Consequently, the ternary nanocom-posite with DBSA and H2SO4 co-doped PANI and MnO2 structures on N-rGO surface has appealing electrochem-ical performance and indicates great potential as an electrode material for supercapacitor applications.

Automated summary

In this study, a ternary nanocomposite of N-rGO-MnO20.5-PANI6 was synthesized for the first time through a simple approach. This nanocomposite exhibited high capacitance (405.2 F/g), excellent rate capability (96.6% capacitance retention at 5 A/g), long cycle stability (86.1% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles), and high energy and power density (13.9 Wh/kg and 260.6 W/kg at 1 A/g). Therefore, this ternary nanocomposite shows great potential as an electrode material for supercapacitor applications.