Extremely Durable, Flexible Supercapacitors with Greatly Improved Performance at High Temperatures

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Reliability and durability are critical for energy storage devices, especially under harsh conditions.
• Extreme environments pose significant challenges to energy storage performance and component integrity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop high-temperature operating, flexible supercapacitors (f-SCs) capable of reliable power output and extreme durability.
• To investigate the performance of f-SCs under severe electrochemical, mechanical, and thermal conditions.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of flexible supercapacitors designed for high-temperature operation.
• Testing of capacitive performance, rate capability, and stability at temperatures exceeding 100 °C.
• Evaluation of mechanical durability through repeated bending cycles at elevated temperatures.

Main Results:

• Achieved approximately 40% enhancement in rate capability at 160 °C.
• Demonstrated maximum capacitances of 170 F g⁻¹ and 18.7 mF cm⁻² at 160 °C.
• Exhibited over 100,000 cycles of stability (>93% retention) and mechanical durability after hundreds of bending cycles (>100 °C).

Conclusions:

• Facilitated ion transport at elevated temperatures contributes to outstanding capacitive features.
• The developed f-SCs offer extreme long-term stability and mechanical durability under high-temperature and flexible operation.
• Tandem serial and parallel f-SC designs can meet high-temperature energy and power demands.