Enhanced Capacitive Performance of Manganese Oxide/Mesoporous Carbon Composite Film Electrodes

Manganese(III) oxide/mesoporous carbon (Mn2O3/MPC) composite films for supercapacitor electrodes have been synthesized using the incipient wetness impregnation method. Mn2O3 was polymerized on MPC film using resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) as carbon precursors, and Pluronic F127 as template. X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy were conducted to observe the structure and surface morphology of Mn2O3/MPC. Cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements were performed in 1 M potassium chloride electrolyte. Mn2O3/MPC composite film showed a specific capacitance 3.5 times larger than that of MPC film (53.59 mF cm(-2) versus 15.23 mF cm(-2)). The increased capacitance was due to the combination of electrical properties of MPC film and the pseudocapacitive characteristics of manganese oxide. Mn2O3/MPC composite film showed fairly stable capacitance with approximately 71% retention after 1000 cycles of stability test, compared with 98% for MPC.

Automated summary

A novel supercapacitor electrode was prepared by polymerizing Mn2O3 on MPC film, showing a 3.5 times improvement in specific capacitance compared to standalone MPC film, with approximately 71% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles.