Hydrothermal express synthesis of CNT/MnO2 composite for asymmetric supercapacitor

Abstract

A hydrothermal technique for the express synthesis of a composite based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and manganese dioxide by means of the direct reduction of potassium permanganate from an aqueous isopropanol solution is proposed in this work. The synthesis conditions (time, temperature, ratios between reagents) are optimized; the primary and secondary processes taking place in the system are considered in detail. The synthesized CNT/MnO2 composite is studied with the help of a wide range of physicochemical and electrochemical methods to assess the possibility of its use as a positively charged electrode of an asymmetric supercapacitor (SC). The assembled SC cell based on this composite and an activated carbon (AC) electrode has fairly high power typical of conventional electric double-layer capacitors (0.82 kW/kg) with a twofold increase in the energy density (12.14 W h/kg).