Green routes to supercapacitors
A new copper-manganese composite could find use as a supercapacitor thanks to its high capacitance, conductivity and durability. What’s more, the synthesis of the material makes use of tree leaves – an abundance natural resource that makes this a truly green material.
Researchers from Nanjing University, China, prepared a highly conductive copper superstructure using the sapless leaves of magnolia, phoenix and maidenhair trees. They added a MnO2 nanofilm coating and used the resulting composite material as an electrode in an electrochemical supercapacitor, measuring a capacitance of 1024 F g-1. Approximately 96% of this capacity was retained after 2000 charge-discharge cycles.
Supercapacitors are thought to be good candidates for future power-storage devices, showing high power density, fast charging/discharging and excellent cycling stability.
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