One-dimensional (1D) MnO2 was widely applied in areas of enzyme biosensors, industrial sieves, and energy storage materials owing to its excellent thermal, optical, magnetic, and chemical features. However, its practical application into energy storage devices is often hindered by the bad electronic conductivity (from 10(-5) to 10(-6) S cm(-1)). As is widely known, doping with hetero elements is an efficient way to enhance the electronic conductivity of metal oxides. Herein, a novel and simple molten-salt method is developed to achieve a large-scale preparation of 1D MnO2 nanowires. Such an approach also realizes the easy tuning of electrical properties through doping with different transition metal ions. On the basis of first-principle calculation as well as four-probe measurement, we determined that the conductivity of the doped MnO2 nanowires can be promoted efficiently by utilizing such protocol. Meanwhile, a possible doping route is discussed in detail. As a result, a superior electrochemical performance can be observed in such metal ions (M(+))-doped nanowires. Such high-quality M(+)-doped MnO2 nanowires can satisfy a broad range of application needs beyond the electrochemical capacitors.
Keywords: MnO2; first-principle calculation; metal-ion doping; molten-salt method; nanowires.