Carbon-decorated LiMn2O4 nanorods with enhanced performance for supercapacitors

The interface characteristics of electrode materials are of tremendous value for supercapacitors, however, poor conductivity, instability in harsh reaction conditions and limited ion mobility in oxide materials are identified as immense challenges for generating high energy density without renouncing the power capability. Herein, a peculiar catalytic chemical vapour deposition (CCVD) approach is employed to decorate a very thin carbon capsules (CCs) on the surface of LiMn2O4 nanorods to synthesize a very active and uniformly distributed LiMn2O4/CCs nano-hybrid material with modified interface characteristics. The CCs not only provide the physicochemical protection as well as improve the electrical conductivity. As an electrode material, LiMn2O4/CCs possess the specific discharge capacitance of 451 F/g which is far superior to LiMn2O4 (304 F/g) at the current density of 0.5 A/g in 0.5 M Li2SO4 aqueous solution. In addition, the LiMn2O4/CCs exhibit an outstanding specific capacitance of 380 F/g even at a much higher current density of 8 A/g. Moreover, after 3000 charge and discharge cycles, LiMn2O4/CCs electrode retains nearly 95% of initial capacity, higher than that of spinel LiMn2O4 electrode which retains only 93%. This innovative technique can be adopted to construct a large variety of other nano-hybrid materials for consumer utilization in the field of supercapacitors.