Preparation and supercapacitance performance of manganese oxide nanosheets/graphene/carbon nanotubes ternary composite film

•The MnO2 nanosheets/graphene/MWCNT composite film with a porous sandwich structure was fabricated through a filtration-directed self-assembly.•The introduction of graphene and MWCNT restricts dense stacking of MnO2 nanosheets.•Ternary composite film exhibits impressive electrochemical performance compared to pure MnO2 nanosheets. A novel MnO2 nanosheets/graphene nanosheets/carboxylic multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MONS/GNS/cMWCNT) ternary composite film was fabricated through a filtration-directed self-assembly method. The Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images showed the porous sandwiched structure of MONS/GNS/cMWCNT with GNS providing a conductive substrate and cMWCNT functioning as a vertical electron pathway. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectra further confirmed that the introduction of GNS and cMWCNT restricted the serious aggregation of MONS, resulting in a higher specific area (691 m2g−1). As a result, the MONS/GNS/cMWCNT composite film exhibited higher specific capacitance (248 Fg−1 at 1 Ag−1 in 1M Na2SO4), better rate performance (66.9% capacitance retention from 0.2 to 10 Ag−1) and cycling stability (86.5% retention after 3000 cycles) compared with those of pure dried MnO2 nanosheets.