Issue 21, 2017, Issue in Progress

Peptide-templated synthesis of branched MnO2 nanowires with improved electrochemical performances

Abstract

Although many nanomaterials have been prepared in vitro by mimicking biomineralization, the biomimetic synthesis of hybrids with both well-ordered nanostructures and specific functions is still in its infancy. A short designed peptide amphiphile I3K can form uniform and stable nanofibers in aqueous solution, with a surface enriched in cationic lysine residue. In the present study, we have demonstrated that the peptide nanofibers could direct the synthesis of MnO2 nanowires under mild conditions. By varying the concentration of manganese precursors (KMnO4 and Mn(NO3)2), uniform branched MnO2/peptide hybrid nanowires with high porosity and a large specific surface area were obtained. The well-defined MnO2 hybrid nanowires showed significantly improved electrochemical supercapacitive properties relative to compact MnO2 nanowires and urchin-like MnO2 spheres. Their specific capacitance could attain a higher value of 421 F g−1 and retained about 93% of the initial capacitance after 2500 cycles at a scan rate of 5 mV s−1, and remained little changed during the process of progressively varying the current density. Furthermore, the electrode prepared from the uniform MnO2 hybrid nanowires showed an excellent reversibility and a reasonably high-rate capability during the charge/discharge process. Such a study provides a new methodology to prepare functional MnO2 nanostructures under mild conditions that can be used in electrochemical energy storage.

Graphical abstract: Peptide-templated synthesis of branched MnO2 nanowires with improved electrochemical performances

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Jan 2017
Accepted
15 Feb 2017
First published
23 Feb 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 12711-12718

Peptide-templated synthesis of branched MnO2 nanowires with improved electrochemical performances

M. Du, Y. Bu, Y. Zhou, Y. Zhao, S. Wang and H. Xu, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 12711 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA00829E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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