Novel ternary composite consisting of multi-wallled carbon nanotubes and manganese dioxide nanorods dispersed in polyaniline matrix as supercapacitve material

摘要

The ternary composites are expected to exhibit excellent cooperative effects while remaining the main advantageous physical-chemical properties of individual ingredients. In this work, the feasibility study on the application of the novel organic-inorganic hybrid composites consisting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanorods and polyaniline as supercapacitve material was conducted. MnO2 nanorods were firstly synthesized by one-step hydrothermal method in the presence of the MWCNTs with less structural defects, then the aniline monomers were introduced into the above binary system and the ternary composites were prepared by in situ chemical polymerization under ultrasonic irradiation. It is found that the MnO2 nanorods and MWCNTs are effective dispersed onto a polyaniline matrix, and the polyaniline coating layers are formed onto the surfaces of metal oxides and carbon nanotubes. Comparative electrochemical tests reveal that the ternary composites electrode shows much better electrochemical performances, which is often difficult to achieve for manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanorods and MWCNTs composites. Such improvement can be contributed to the formation of polyaniline coating layer as a physical barrier to restrain the underlying MnO2 and MWCNTs composites from reductive-dissolution process, and better inter-particle connectivity to the metal oxide material and the carbon nanotubes in the composites.