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Manganese oxide presents very promising electrochemical properties as an electrode material in supercapacitors, but there remain important open questions to guide further development of the complex manganese oxide/carbon/electrolyte system. Our work addresses specifically the influence of carbon ordering and the difference between outer and inner porosity of carbon particles for the application in aqueous 1 M Na2SO4 and 1 M LiClO4 in acetonitrile. Birnessite-type manganese oxide was hydrothermally hybridized on two kinds of carbon onions with only outer surface area and different electrical conductivity, and conventional activated carbon with a high inner porosity. Carbon onions with a high degree of carbon ordering, high conductivity, and high outer surface area were identified as the most promising material, yielding 179 F g-1. Pore blocking in activated carbon yields unfavorable electrochemical performances. The highest specific energy of 16.4 W h kg-1 was measured for a symmetric full-cell arrangement of manganese oxide coated high temperature carbon onions in the organic electrolyte. High stability during 10 000 cycles was achieved for asymmetric full-cells, which proved as a facile way to enhance the electrochemical performance stability.
Optical polymers cover only a rather narrow range of optical properties. This is a limiting factor for the design of polymer-based optical systems such as smartphone cameras. Moreover, it also poses a problem for femtosecond two-photon lithography, which is a state-of-the-art technology to 3D print high-quality optics from photopolymers. To overcome the limitations of conventional polymers, we introduce nano-inks based on the commonly used photopolymers IP-DIP and IP-S as polymer matrix and zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) nanoparticles. We show that the refractive index and dispersion of these nano-inks can be purposefully tailored by varying the constituent materials and the volume fraction of the nanoparticles. Furthermore, we demonstrate the suitability of our nano-inks for optical applications by 3D printing single micro-lenses and a multi-material achromatic Fraunhofer doublet. Our findings confirm that nanocomposites expand the range of optical properties that are accessible for polymer-based systems and allow for the design of tailored optical materials.
