Supercapacitive properties of hybrid films of manganese dioxide and polyaniline based on active carbon in organic electrolyte

This is the first report about supercapacitive performance of hybrid film of manganese dioxide (MnO2) and polyaniline (PANI) in an organic electrolyte (1.0 M LiClO4 in acetonitrile). In this work, a high surface area and conductivity of active carbon (AC) electrode is used as a substrate for PANI/MnO2 film electro-codeposition. The redox properties of the coated PANI/MnO2 thin film exhibit ideal capacitive behaviour in 1 M LiClO4/AN. The specific capacitance (SC) of PANI/MnO2 hybrid film is as high as 1292 F g−1 and maintains about 82% of the initial capacitance after 1500 cycles at a current density of 4.0 mA cm−2, and the coulombic efficiency (η) is higher than 95%. An asymmetric capacitor has been developed with the PANI/MnO2/AC positive and pure AC negative electrodes, which is able to deliver a specific energy as high as 61 Wh kg−1 at a specific power of 172 W kg−1 in the range of 0–2.0 V. These results indicate that the organic electrolyte is a promising candidate for PANI/MnO2 material application in supercapacitors.