Manganese-based coordination framework derived manganese sulfide nanoparticles integrated with carbon sheets for application in supercapacitor

Manganese sulfide (MnS) with high specific capacitance and low-cost merits, has been investigated as a potential electroactive material for supercapacitor. However, in practical application, MnS has been suffering from some disadvantageous issues such as insufficient electrical conductivity, serious particle agglomeration as well as huge volume change during continuous charges and discharges, which resulted in a limited specific capacitance, shortened working life and inferior rate performance. Engineering electrode materials with controlled nanostructure and composition is pivotal to improve electrichemical performance of supercapacitors. This paper introduces a facile in situ sulfuration method to fabricate MnS/NSC composite with Mn-hexamethylene tetramine coordination framework as precursor. The results indicated that MnS nanoparticles were highly dispersed and incorporated into nitrogen, sulfur-doped carbon microsheets in MnS/NSC composite. Carbon matrix effectively dispersed and confined the MnS nanoparticles, thus inhibiting aggregation, relieving volume change and retaining structural integrity. Moreover, the 2D conductive carbon matrix reduced the diffusion distance for ions and ensured fast electron delivery. As a result, MnS/NSC electrode delivered a tremendously boosted electrochemical performance for supercapacitor. A large capacitance value about 1881.8F/g was achieved at 1A/g. Even cycling for 3000 loops at 40 A/g, MnS/NSC electrode retained a large capacitance of 404.3F/g. Furthermore, an asymmetric capacitor based on assembly of MnS/NSC composite cathode and activated carbon anode was fabricated. As tested under a current density of 0.1 A/g, it delivered a capacitance of ∼ 110.1F/g and achieved an energy density of 12.4 Wh kg⁻¹ along with a power density of 3.03 kW kg⁻¹. These results demonstrate the potential utilization of MnS/NSC composite as electrodes for energy conversion and storage devices and open up a route for material design for future energy storage devices.