Facile In-Situ electrosynthesis of MnO2/RGO nanocomposite for enhancing the electrochemical performance of symmetric supercapacitors

One-pot galvanostatic reverse pulse electrochemical deposition (RPED) was used to create a supercapacitive electrode made of manganese dioxide/reduced graphene oxide (MnO2/RGO) nanocomposite. Systematic changes of two independent parameters of the reverse pulse current, including times of the anodic and cathodic pulses (ta and tc), were investigated to achieve the desired physicochemical and electrochemical properties. Galvanostatic charge–discharge, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests were employed to perform electrochemical evaluations. According to the results, the MG50-5 nanocomposite, synthesized at ta = 50 ms, tc = 5 ms, and anodic peak current density of 2 mA cm−2, was selected as the optimal sample. This sample showed the highest specific surface area of 284.6 m2 g−1 and the specific capacitance of 789.0F/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g. The specific capacitances of the MG50-5 symmetric supercapacitor at current densities of 0.5 and 10 A/g were 660.14 and 402.50F/g, respectively. Maintaining 84.8 % of the specific capacitance after 5000 consecutive cycles at 4 A/g indicated stable cycle performance of the MG50-5 symmetric cell. The MG50-5 symmetric supercapacitor presented the maximum energy density of 22.92 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 156.3 W kg−1 and the maximum power density of 3.125 kW kg−1 at an energy density of 13.97 Wh kg−1. Therefore, optimizing reverse pulse current parameters in the galvanostatic RPED of MnO2/RGO nanocomposite leads to an outstanding electrochemical performance of the fabricated supercapacitors.