Enhancing Supercapacitor Performance of NiCoMn‐Layered Double Hydroxide with Ag–Citrate/Polyaniline Nanocomposites

Abstract

Layered double hydroxide (LDH) has a layered structure, which makes it a strong candidate for supercapacitors (SC) due to its high surface area. However, they suffer from low conductivity due to insufficient charge transfer across their layers. This research aims to overcome this obstacle by introducing conductive channels among the layers by the addition of Ag–citrate and polyaniline (PANI). Consequently, five electrodes (S1–5) were made from NiCoMn LDH (referred to as LDH henceforth) and 2:1 Ag–citrate and PANI composite (Ag/PANI) in different ratios and made into electrodes. Electrochemical analysis revealed successful improvement in the performance of LDH as the fraction of Ag/PANI increased until it equaled Ag/PANI where the highest specific capacitance of 617 F g−1 was obtained, which is 12% greater than the value for solely LDH electrode (550 F g−1). A device was fabricated with the best electrode (S3) and activated carbon electrode, which demonstrated energy densities and power densities of 41 WhKg−1 and 412.5 W Kg−1 and 14 WhKg−1and 8250 W Kg−1 at 0.5 and 10 A g−1 current densities, respectively. It also exhibited a capacitive retention of about 75% at 3000 galvanostatic charge–discharge cycles. These results encourage the use in of NiCoMn LDH, in a 1:1 ratio with Ag/PANI in SCs due to its remarkable performance.