Mn-doped V2O5@rGO towards high-performance electrode materials for aqueous zinc-ion supercapacitors

In order to address the diverse energy storage requirements, there is an urgent need to fabricate supercapacitors with high specific capacitance, long cycle life, high power density and high energy density. Among various transition metal oxide materials, vanadium pentoxide emerges as a promising candidate for cathode materials in supercapacitors. Herein, we report an ion intercalation strategy to synthesize Mn-doped V2O5 (MnVO) and recombine it with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to form Mn-doped V2O5@rGO (MnVO@rGO) hybrids with special hierarchical structure. During the hydrothermal process, Mn2+ gradually inserts into the layer spacing of V2O5 to form nanobelts, which could be cross-linked with graphene nanosheets to form MnVO@rGO 3D skeleton network. This unique structure enables the MnVO@rGO electrode to exhibit excellent specific capacitance of 1120 F g-1 at 0.2 A g-1. Outstanding cycling performance is demonstrated by achieving a capacity retention rate of 91.5% after 2000 cycle. The symmetrical supercapacitor device assembled with MnVO@rGO as both positive and negative electrodes exhibits an energy density of 150.75 and 77.5 W h Kg-1 at power density of 450 and 9000 W Kg-1, respectively. Moreover, DFT calculations also have been employed to account for the improved electrochemical performances of MnVO@rGO. Besides, the excellent electrochemical performances of MnVO@rGO indicate that it has broad application prospects in future energy storage devices.