High Specific Capacitance of Polyaniline/Mesoporous Manganese Dioxide Composite Using KI-H2SO4 Electrolyte

The PANI/Mesoporous MnO2 composites were prepared through a simple one step method and we introduced the KI-H2SO4 solution as the electrolyte of PANI/MnO2 composites creatively. The characterization of structure, morphology, and composition are obtained by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravity analysis, Raman spectra, and scanning electron microscope. The electrochemical performances were investigated by constant-current charge–discharge, the voltammetry curve, and alternating current (AC) impedance technique. The specific capacitance of composites is 1405 F/g, which is almost 10 times larger than MnO2 (158 F/g). We also find that the iodide concentration is closely related to the specific capacitance. Therefore, we explored the specific capacitance at different iodide concentration (0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 1 M), the results indicated that the specific capacitance reached a maximum value (1580 F/g) at 0.5 mol/L. Additionally, the PANI/Mesoporous MnO2 composites not only exhibited a good ratio discharge property (857 F/g) at high current density, but also revealed an excellent cycling stability after 500 cycles, which retained 90% of the original specific capacitance.