The specific capacitance of sol–gel synthesised spinel MnCo2O4 in an alkaline electrolyte

Abstract

In this work, high performance spinel MnCo2O4 electrode was fabricated via a facile sol–gel method and its capacitive behavior was successfully investigated in alkaline electrolyte. MnCo2O4 electrode was characterized by means of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The pseudo capacitive behavior of spinel MnCo2O4 was widely investigated in 2 M KOH aqueous electrolyte using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge test, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). As a result, the spinel MnCo2O4 exhibited excellent porous structure and the highest specific capacitance of 405 F g−1 was achieved at a current density of 5 mA cm−2. In addition, the spinel MnCo2O4 displayed desirable stability in alkaline electrolyte during long-term cycles with a cycling efficiency of 95.1% over 1,000 cycles. The high specific capacitance and excellent cycling ability of MnCo2O4 show promise for its application in supercapacitors.