CONCENTRATION EVALUATION OF Garcina kola FRUIT PULP EXTRACT ON THE ELECTROCHEMICAL PERFORMANCE OF Mn0.6Ni0.4Co2S4/Ti3C2Tx FOR SUPERCAPACITOR APPLICATION

Abstract

Composite of nickel doped manganese cobalt sulfide (Mn0.6Ni0.4Co2S4) and MXene have proven to be good electrode materials but not without restacking, aggregation, slow reaction kinetics and volume expansion issues hindering their practical use. This work involves an easy synthesis of Mn1-xNixCo2S4/Ti3C2Tx described here as (MMNCS) nanocomposite utilizing the coprecipitation method using garcinia kola fruit pulp extract as green intercalant and evaluating the effect of extract concentration on the electrochemical performance of the synthesized composite. The XRD shows an increase in interlayer spacing distance of 9.6 Ả for Ti3C2Tx@Al to 12.04 Ả, 13.4 Ả, 14.8 and 14.1 Ả in MMNCS 0, MMNCS 1, MMNCS 2 and MMNCS 3 composites respectively while BET surface area analysis shows that MMCS 2 has the highest surface area of 102.2 m2/g. The green intercalated MMNCS 3 nanocomposite form a sandwich-like structure that is a boon for ion penetration. MXene's bandgap value of 2.4 eV generally reduced to 2.22 eV, 2.18 eV, 1.92 eV and 2.09 eV for MMNCS 0, MMNCS 1, MMNCS 2 and MMNCS 3 respectively. FTIR spectra clearly show the various functional groups in the samples. Optimum specific capacitance of 1832 C/g was recorded by MMNCS 2 at 1.0 A/g with 90.3 % capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles. EIS spectra validate a quicker electron transfer rate for this electrode hence, it suggests the potential of the Mn0.6Ni0.4Co2S4/Ti3C2Tx nanocomposite synthesized with garcinia kola fruit pulp extract as green intercalant as a hopeful material for energy storage.