Manganese Oxides Prepared with Various Alcohols and Their Application in Supercapacitors

Manganese oxides used for supercapacitors were fabricated via the simple redox reactions between KMnO4 and various alcohols using hydrothermal methods. Crystal structure and morphology of products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The number of hydroxyl groups has a great effect on the oxidation state, the morphology and the capacitive performance of the obtained manganese oxides powders. When monobasic alcohols were used as the reductants, the specific capacitance of the prepared MnO2 is as high as 162.2 F/g, much higher than that of MnOOH and Mn3O4 obtained by dibasic or tribasic alcohols as reductants.