Polyaniline/MnO₂/porous carbon nanofiber electrodes for supercapacitors

Free-standing polyaniline@MnO₂@porous carbon nanofiber (PANI@MnO₂@PCNF) supercapacitor electrodes were fabricated through the electrodeposition of MnO₂ nanoparticles onto electrospun PCNFs and subsequent chemical polymerization of aniline on the MnO₂@PCNF composite. The introduced PANI@MnO₂@PCNF electrodes combined the high pseudo capacitance of both MnO₂ nanoparticles and conducting PANI polymer with the good cycling stability of PCNFs, and hence they exhibited high capacitance retention (91%) after 1000 cycles with high capacitance of 289 F/g. In order to further improve the performance, asymmetric cell configuration was employed by using PANI@MnO₂@PCNF and PCNF electrodes. Electrochemical test results showed that asymmetric cell configuration led to improved energy density (119 Wh/kg) as well as power density (322 W/kg). It is, therefore, demonstrated that binder-free PANI@MnO₂@PCNF composites are promising electrode candidate for high-performance supercapacitor applications.