Assembly of hybrid electrode rGO–CNC–MnO2 for a high performance supercapacitor

Abstract

A hybrid electrode material is constructed based on self-assembly of reduced graphene oxide-cellulose nanocrystals (rGO-CNC) as the matrix and then decorating with manganese dioxide (α-MnO2). Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were introduced between graphene sheets as a spacer and MnO2 nanoparticles were deposited as an electrochemically active component on the surface of rGO-CNC via an in-situ hydrothermal method. The resultant composite exhibited an excellent specific capacitance of 397.7 ​F ​g−1 at the current density of 0.2 ​A ​g−1, a negligible capacitance retention over 2000 cycles, and a good energy-power profile of 23.52 ​Wh kg−1 and 1.51 ​kW ​kg−1. The proposed simple assembly strategy is useful for the design of high performance multi-component hybrid electrodes for supercapacitors.