Effect of preparation method on electrochemical property of Mn-doped carbon aerogel for supercapacitor

To investigate the effect of preparation method on electrochemical properties, Mn-doped carbon aerogels were prepared using monolith carbon aerogel and carbon aerogel powder. For this purpose, Mn-doped carbon aerogels (Mn-doped monolith carbon aerogel and Mn-doped carbon aerogel powder) were prepared by two different wet impregnation methods. Electrochemical properties of Mn-doped carbon aerogel electrodes were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements. Compared to carbon aerogel, Mn-doped carbon aerogels exhibited the enhanced specific capacitance. The improved performance of Mn-doped carbon aerogels came from pseudocapacitive characteristics of manganese oxide. Among various Mn-doped monolith carbon aerogels, 18.8 wt% Mn-doped monolith carbon aerogel showed the highest specific capacitance. It was also revealed that Mn-doped monolith carbon aerogel retained highly dispersed manganese oxide particles on carbon aerogel matrix compared to Mn-doped carbon aerogel powder. Therefore, Mn-doped monolith carbon aerogel showed higher specific capacitance than Mn-doped carbon aerogel powder.