Scalable Mn3O4-PANi nanocomposite for aqueous Al-ion hybrid supercapacitors
摘要
Aluminium-ion hybrid systems are a fast-emerging alternative energy storage. They benefit from natural abundance, safety and affordability of source materials. In this work, manganese oxide (Mn3O4) is proven as an efficient cathode material for these systems owing to its favourable electrochemical properties. Mostly, the poor conductivity limits its standalone applications. To overcome this issue, Mn3O4 is integrated with polyaniline (PANi), a conductive polymer, through in situ polymerization for the formation of Mn3O4-PANi nanocomposite. The electrochemical analysis of Mn3O4 and Mn3O4-PANi nanocomposite was performed in 1 M AlCl3 within the potential window of 1.2 V. The Mn3O4-PANi nanocomposite exhibits improved charge storage capability in comparison with pristine Mn3O4, with a specific capacitance of ~ 420 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, which shows ~ 50% increment over pristine Mn3O4. Furthermore, the fabricated coin cell device delivered an energy density of 29.7 Wh kg−1 with a power density of 2812.5 W kg−1 at 2 A g−1, demonstrating their advanced sustainable energy storage solutions.