Sulfuric acid etching for fabrication of porous MnO2 for high-performance supercapacitor

Hierarchical manganese valence gradient MnO2via phosphorus doping for cathode materials with improved stability

The search for a method for enhancing the electrochemical performance of manganese dioxide is still a challenge. Herein, we report a rod-like P-MnO_x cathode material with a hierarchical manganese gradient valence through the phosphatization process. For the incorporation of P, Mn₃O₄ was formed on the surface of MnO₂ and exhibited a gradient valence structure, while the oxygen defect concentration in P-MnO_x increased. The unique structure was verified via XRD, TEM and XPS. As the cathode material for a supercapacitor, the specific capacitance of P-MnO_x was 126.3 F g^-1, which was four times that of MnO₂. The assembling of the coin cells of aqueous ZIBs with P-MnO_x also showed good rate performance. The electrochemical performance of the synthesised P-MnO_x cathode was enhanced for the synergistic effect of improved conductivity and structural stability.

Sea urchin-like CoNi2S4materials derived from nickel hexamyanocobaltate for high-performance asymmetric hybrid supercapacitor

In this work, a mild chemical precipitation method and simple hydrothermal treatment of the nickel hexamyanocobaltate precursor strategy are developed to prepare a sea urchin-like CoNi₂S₄compound with remarkable specific capacity and excellent cycling stability. The prepared CoNi₂S₄has an outstanding specific capacity of 149.1 mA h g^-1at 1 A g^-1and an initial capacity of 83.1% after 3000 cycles at 10 A g^-1. Moreover, the porous carbon nanospheres (PCNs) with exhibit cycling stability (94.7% of initial specific capacity after 10 000 cycles at 10 A g^-1) are selected as negative electrode to match CoNi₂S₄positive electrode for assembly of CoNi₂S₄//PCNs asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC). Satisfactorily, the as-assembled CoNi₂S₄//PCNs ASC exhibits an impressive energy density of 41.6 Wh kg^-1at 797 W kg^-1, as well as the suitable capacity retention of 82.8% after 10 000 cycles. The superior properties of the device demonstrated that the as-prepared material is potential energy storage material.

"Porous and Yet Dense" Electrodes for High-Volumetric-Performance Electrochemical Capacitors: Principles, Advances, and Challenges

With the ever-rapid miniaturization of portable, wearable electronics and Internet of Things, the volumetric performance is becoming a much more pertinent figure-of-merit than the conventionally used gravimetric parameters to evaluate the charge-storage capacity of electrochemical capacitors (ECs). Thus, it is essential to design the ECs that can store as much energy as possible within a limited space. As the most critical component in ECs, "porous and yet dense" electrodes with large ion-accessible surface area and optimal packing density are crucial to realize desired high volumetric performance, which have demonstrated to be rather challenging. In this review, the principles and fundamentals of ECs are first observed, focusing on the key understandings of the different charge storage mechanisms in porous electrodes. The recent and latest advances in high-volumetric-performance ECs, developed by the rational design and fabrication of "porous and yet dense" electrodes are then examined. Particular emphasis of discussions then concentrates on the key factors impacting the volumetric performance of porous carbon-based electrodes. Finally, the currently faced challenges, further perspectives and opportunities on those purposely engineered porous electrodes for high-volumetric-performance EC are presented, aiming at providing a set of guidelines for further design of the next-generation energy storage devices.

Upcycling of Wastewater via Effective Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production Using MnO2 Nanoparticles-Decorated Activated Carbon Nanoflakes

In the present work, we demonstrated the upcycling technique of effective wastewater treatment via photocatalytic hydrogen production by using the nanocomposites of manganese oxide-decorated activated carbon (MnO₂-AC). The nanocomposites were sonochemically synthesized in pure water by utilizing MnO₂ nanoparticles and AC nanoflakes that had been prepared through green routes using the extracts of Brassica oleracea and Azadirachta indica, respectively. MnO₂-AC nanocomposites were confirmed to exist in the form of nanopebbles with a high specific surface area of ~109 m²/g. When using the MnO₂-AC nanocomposites as a photocatalyst for the wastewater treatment, they exhibited highly efficient hydrogen production activity. Namely, the high hydrogen production rate (395 mL/h) was achieved when splitting the synthetic sulphide effluent (S²⁻ = 0.2 M) via the photocatalytic reaction by using MnO₂-AC. The results stand for the excellent energy-conversion capability of the MnO₂-AC nanocomposites, particularly, for photocatalytic splitting of hydrogen from sulphide wastewater.

Cobalt-promoted fabrication of 3D carbon with a nanotube-sheet mutual support structure: scalable preparation of a high-performance anode material for Li-ion batteries

Currently, the design of carbon-based composite as a high-performance anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) presents challenges for commercial application. Herein, we developed a three-dimensional carbon-based material with a nanotube-sheet mutual support structure (MS-CNTS) engineered by the catalytic effect of Co species. The present work highlights a concise 'solvent-free' synthetic method allowing for large-scale output, which is potentially available for low cost commercial use. With the readily available acetylacetonate and cobalt (II) acetylacetonate as starting chemicals, this nanostructured carbonaceous material is fabricated with aldol condensation to construct a Co-contained carbon-link network polymer precursor followed by annealing under argon. It is composed of brim-curled graphene-like carbon nanosheets and carbon nanotubes, which support each other's structures to effectively avoid agglomeration. Therefore, it enables high performance in LIBs. In spite of the trace amount of cobalt, the carbon-based MS-CNTS anode delivers a high charge capacity of 1028 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1, high rate capacity of 495 mAh g-1 at 2 A g-1, and ultra-long cycling life with a very low capacity decay of 0.008% per cycle over 1000 cycles at 0.5 A g-1, accompanied by 100% Coulombic efficiency. From full cell measurements, we further confirm the considerable promise of MS-CNTS as anodes with a long cycling life.

Boosting the energy storage densities of supercapacitors by incorporating N-doped graphene quantum dots into cubic porous carbon

Hierarchical N-doped porous carbon has been prepared by assembling N-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) onto a carbonized metal-organic framework (cMOF-5) and used as an electrode material for supercapacitors. In this hierarchical composite structure, cMOF-5 provides an effective cubic porous framework with a large specific surface area and good electrical conductivity, while N-GQDs play an important role in enhancing the pseudocapacitive activity and improving the surface wettability of the electrode. Therefore, the N-GQD/cMOF-5 composite electrode material exhibits an outstanding specific capacitance of 780 F g-1 at 10 mV s-1 in a three-electrode system. Moreover, the composite electrode assembled in symmetric supercapacitors also displays a high specific capacitance of 294.1 F g-1 at 0.5 A g-1, excellent rate capacity and remarkable cycling stability with 94.1% of the initial capacitance retained after 5000 cycles at 5 A g-1. When used as the positive electrode, the N-GQD/cMOF-5//AC asymmetric supercapacitor exhibits an energy density of 14.4 W h kg-1 at a power density of 400.6 W kg-1, while the capacitance retention after 5000 cycles reaches 90.1%. The current N-GQD/cMOF-5 composite electrode paves a feasible avenue to improve the capacitive performances of supercapacitors by constructing heteroatom-doped, hierarchically porous carbon architectures.