One-pot hydrothermal synthesis of Mn3O4 nanorods grown on Ni foam for high performance supercapacitor applications

Abstract

Abstract Mn 3 O 4 /Ni foam composites were synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method in an aqueous solution containing only Mn(NO 3 ) 2 and C 6 H 12 N 4 . It was found that Mn 3 O 4 nanorods with lengths of 2 to 3 μm and diameters of 100 nm distributed on Ni foam homogeneously. Detailed reaction time-dependent morphological and component evolution was studied to understand the growth process of Mn 3 O 4 nanorods. As cathode material for supercapacitors, Mn 3 O 4 nanorods/composite exhibited superior supercapacitor performances with high specific capacitance (263 F · g -1 at 1A · g -1 ), which was more than 10 times higher than that of the Mn 3 O 4 /Ni plate. The enhanced supercapacitor performance was due to the porous architecture of the Ni foam which provides fast ion and electron transfer, large reaction surface area, and good conductivity.