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

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 (270.5 F g(-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. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.