Effects of carbon nanomaterials and MXene addition on the performance of nitrogen doped MnO2 based supercapacitors

Abstract

Nitrogen-doped composites have the potential to achieve well electrochemical performance by enabling convenient contact of the electrolyte ions for carbon-based materials. A good combination of metal oxide and carbonaceous material is a critical challenge in the development of composites. Herein, we demonstrate a highly capacitive and superior cycle performance of MnO2 based supercapacitor electrodes. The addition of different forms of carbon nanomaterials (carbon nanotube and graphene) and MXene is particularly studied. MnO2 based composite materials are capable of capacitance retention over 95%, with high specific capacitance compared to pure N-doped MnO2. The highest specific capacitance was achieved with MXene based MnO2 composite, which exhibits 457 Fg-1, at a current density of 1 A g−1 with extreme cycling efficiency (102.5%, after 1000 cycles). High conductivity and large surface area are stimulated by the propitious interaction between MnO2 and nanoscale materials, resulting in superior supercapacitor efficiency. This study highlights the possible potential of carbon-based MnO2 composite electrodes which could be useful for future energy storage applications.