Week One: Manganese Dioxide Research

My name is Allison and I’m an ASE intern working in Dr. Tratnyek’s lab this summer. My frontline mentor is Jim Nurmi.

 

Today is the start of my second week working at CMOP. Last week, I did a lot of researching on manganese dioxide as a biogenic substance and as a supercapacitor. A supercapacitor stores energy by accumulation of charges at the electrode/electrolyte interface and is a power supply for many electrical products. MnO₂ is present in soils and sediments in the environment and it has exhibited pseudocapacitance.

 

Because supercapacitors with high energy and high power densities, as well as low cost and nontoxicity are desired, MnO₂ is a candidate for biogenic research. It is naturally abundant, low cost, and is not harmful to the environment. MnO₂ influences the transport of contaminants and nutrients in the environment, as bacteria can oxidize Mn(II) in natural aqueous environments.

 

After reading many papers about manganese dioxide, I started to work on fabricating MnO₂ electrodes. From a paper called “Electrochemical Characterization of Catalytic Activities of Manganese Oxides to Oxygen Reduction in Alkaline Aqueous Solution” by Mao L., et al, I adapted a method using Nafion, ethanol, and MnO₂ particles. Last week, I spent my days collecting data of different concentrations of Nafion and ethanol using cyclic voltammetry. 

 

This week, I am going to analyze the data and see if the working electrodes I created exhibit different electrochemical properties. I might try a new method to try to form a better MnO₂ electrode. Later, I will look at biogenic MnO₂ to see if there is a difference in the electrochemical properties of natural MnO₂ and the synthetic types that I have created.

 

Last week was really interesting. I look forward to new experiences throughout the rest of my internship.

 

            -Allison