Abstract

“And do not desire corruption in the land. Indeed, God does not like corruptors.” (Qur’an 28:77). In recent years, challenges associated with climate change, energy, and continuous oil crises due to decreased availability of fossil fuels have motivated a growing interest towards progress in clean, renewable, and sustainable energy resources. Therefore, we testimony an increase in energy generation from the wind, sun, biomass, and hydro resources with low carbon emissions. However, the energy from these resources needs to be stored in appropriate, reliable, and environmentally benign ways for continuous and sustainable supply at times of demand. Energy  storage  devices  have  become  an  enabling  technology  for dispatching  and  better utilization of energy from these intermittent sources. The energy storage field is attracting attention from industrial and scientific communities to develop expertise in clean and renewable energy storage systems. Corresponding to their utilization in electric vehicles, wireless home appliances, and communication devices of power requirement, the research in developing advanced storage devices finds an enormous and vast future ahead. With the emerging trend and advancement of miniaturized portable electronics, there is an increasing demand for high performance micro-scale energy storage systems with high reliability. In this regard, planar micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) are beneficial power sources due to their small size, excellent rate performance and long cycling life. Herein, we demonstrate the fabrication  of  a  planar  MSC  with  stacked  MnO2/PPy  microelectrodes  through  facile electrodeposition   and   study   its   electrochemical   performance.   A layer   of   PPy   was electrochemically deposited on Au current collectors followed by electrodeposition of urchin-like MnO2 micro/nanostructures. We employed electrodeposition method to tailor the thickness and morphology of MnO2 decorated PPy microelectrodes by optimizing the parameters such as current density, potential and deposition time. The electrochemical performance of MnO2/PPy-MSC was evaluated by using LiClO4/PVA gel electrolyte. Our approach provides distinct pathways for access of electrolyte and maximum charge transfer through microelectrodes, while preventing the aggregation of MnO2. The fabricated MSC exhibits an improved specific capacitance and energy density by the virtue of highly conductive PPy and high capacitive property of MnO2. A layer of PPy strengthens the conductivity of microelectrodes by fast electron   transfer   and   ensures   the   high   utilization   of   active   material.   While,   MnO2 micro/nanostructures have more active sites which facilitate the fast ion diffusion and exchange at electr