Design of Flexible Supercapacitors Using Metal Oxide-Decorated Carbon Nanotube Sheet

Abstract

The economical production of flexible, chemically-functionalized carbon nanotube (CNT) electrodes is appealing for the manufacture of electronic textiles with integrated charge storage capability. In this paper, a commercial CNT sheet is treated with 0.02 M potassium permanganate at room temperature to accomplish in-situ deposition of manganese dioxide. The morphology, elemental oxidation states, and crystallinity of the modified CNT sheet are studied using SEM, EDX, XPS, and XRD. Manganese loading is varied from 4 to 20 weight-percent by tuning solution treatment time, and metal oxide hydration state is influenced by thermal annealing at 200 °C. Electrochemical measurements reveal that charge is stored not only via CNT-induced electrical double-layer capacitance, but also through metal oxide-mediated Faradic reactions. The MnO2-decorated CNT sheet exhibits a specific capacitance of 89.6 F/g at 1 A/g, a tenfold enhancement compared to pristine CNT sheet. Overall, this simplified processing approach holds promise for cost-effective incorporation of electrochemical capacitors into functional fabrics for energy-generation applications.