Manganese-doped polyaniline electrodes as high-performance supercapacitors with superior energy density and prolonged shelf life

The rising energy ultimatum has urged a paradigm shift from conventional to non-conventional, green, and clean energy sources to indulge supply and demand. In light of this, manganese-doped polyaniline was synthesized via the In-situ oxidative polymerization method and was employed as material for supercapacitor electrodes. The doping of PANI by manganese was confirmed from EDX and XPS analysis. Electrochemical studies uncovered an areal capacitance of 776 mF/cm2 at a current density of 1 mA/cm2, gravimetric capacitance of 995 F/g at 1 A/g, 99% coulombic efficiency, and a capacitive retention of 86.5% was observed after 20,000 cycles at a current density of 35 mA/cm2 by the fabricated coin cell device. The shelf life performance of the coin cell was analyzed after 400 days and underwent a long run for one lakh cycles, which revealed a capacitive retention of 71% at 1 mA/cm2 and a stable coulombic efficiency of 96% throughout the cycling. From the performance analysis, the manganese-doped PANI claims to serve as an excellent electrode for supercapacitor applications.