Novel flower-like MnCo2O4 microstructure self-assembled by ultrathin nanoflakes on the microspheres for high-performance supercapacitors

In this work, we demonstrate the facile solvothermal synthesis of novel flower-like MnCo2O4 microstructures, which are constructed from the assembly of numerous ultrathin nanoflakes as petals on the surfaces of solid cores. The sodium dodecyl sulfate was found to play a key role in the forming such flower-like MnCo2O4 microstructures. When used as electrode materials for supercapacitors, these novel MnCo2O4 micro-flowers exhibit a good capacitive behavior with a specific capacitance of 539 F g(-1) at 1.0 A g(-1) and a specific capacitance retention of 96.1% after 2000 continuous charge-discharge cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance might be mainly attributed to their unique flower-like microstructures, efficiently providing fast electron and ion transport, more active sites and good mechanical stability. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.