A NOVEL STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF AMMONIUM BI-CARBONATE PRECURSORS AND THE CAPACITANCE PROPERTIES OF MANGANESE CARBONATE IN COMPARISON WITH CONVENTIONAL MNCO3 FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS

Aim: Aim of this study is to compare the effect of ammonium bi-carbonate precursors on the capacitance properties of MnCO3 for supercapacitor applications in biomedical instruments. Materials and Methods: Manganese nanoparticles were synthesized by manganese chloride with ammonium bi-carbonate (NH4CO3). As-synthesised nanoparticles are hereafter represented as MnCO3-1. Here seven iterations were analysed and the total sample size was calculated as 20. The nanoparticle was characterized by the means of XRD diffraction and scanning and electron microscopy (SEM). The sample size was calculated by maintaining G-power 80%, a=0.05, confidence interval 95%. Result: PXRD patterns of all MnCO3 samples display sharp and intense reflections, which is a characteristic feature of crystallinity. The diffraction peaks are observed at 2. values of 24.3 for the sample. A small diffraction peak appearing at a 2. value of 27.14(0) is attributed to impurity, MnO. FESEM images of MnCO3 samples are sub-micron size spherical, MnCO3-1 nanoparticles show sub-micron size spherical particles made of nanoplatelet particles made of agglomerated nanoparticles. The observed difference in the morphology is attributed to the difference in the pH of the reaction medium. The particle size was analysed from 100-200 nm range. The specific capacitance value of 103 F g(-1) was obtained for MnCO3-1. MnCO3-1 shows higher specific capacitance than conventional MnCO3 (86 F g(-1)). Conclusion: In summary, carbonate precursors used in the present study do not influence crystal structure of MnCO3, they largely influence the morphology, surface area, porosity and thus capacitance properties. Hence, capacitance properties of MnCO3 can be tuned by the choice of carbonate precursor.