The Raman spectra of (1 − x)(BMITFSI), xLiTFSI ionic liquids, where 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium cation (BMI + ) and bis(trifluoromethane-sulfonyl)imide anion (TFSI − ) are analyzed for LiTFSI mole fractions x < 0.4. As expected from previous studies on similar TFSI-based systems, most lithium ions are shown to be coordinated within [Li(TFSI) 2 ] − anionic clusters. The variation of the self-diffusion coefficients of the 1 H, 19 F, and 7 Li nuclei, measured by pulsed-gradient spin-echo NMR (PGSE-NMR) as a function of x, can be rationalized in terms of the weighted contribution of BMI + cations, TFSI − 'free' anions, and [Li(TFSI) 2 ] − anionic clusters. This implies a negative transference number for lithium.

Electrochemical capacity retention of nearly X-ray amorphous nanostructured manganese oxide (nanoMnO 2 ) synthesized by mixing directly KMnO 4 with ethylene glycol under ambient conditions for supercapacitor studies is enhanced significantly. Although X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of nanoMnO 2 shows poor crystallinity, it is found that by Mn K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) measurement that the nanoMnO 2 obtained is locally arranged in a δ-MnO 2 -type layered structure composed of edge-shared network of MnO 6 octahedra. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and XANES measurements show that nanoMnO 2 contains nearly spherical shaped morphology with δ-MnO 2 structure, and 1D nanorods of R-MnO 2 type structure (powder XRD) in the annealed (600 °C) sample. Volumetric nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, inductively coupled plasma analysis, and thermal analysis are carried out to obtain physicochemical properties such as surface area (230 m 2 g -1 ), porosity of nanoMnO 2 (secondary mesopores of diameter 14.5 nm), water content, composition, etc., which lead to the promising electrochemical properties as an electrode for supercapacitor. The nanoMnO 2 shows a very high stability even after 1200 cycles with capacity retention of about 250 F g -1 .