Interface Engineering on Cellulose-Based Flexible Electrode Enables High Mass Loading Wearable Supercapacitor with...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Increasing active material mass loading is crucial for commercial energy storage but challenges device performance.
• Novel electrode structure design is needed to overcome the bottleneck in integrated performance for practical energy storage devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To engineer an active nitrogen-doped carbon interface on a flexible cellulose electrode.
• To accommodate one-dimensional (1D) active materials for enhanced energy storage.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a flexible cellulose electrode with a nitrogen-doped carbon interface.
• Integration of 1D active materials (carbon nanotubes for anode, polypyrrole nanotubes for cathode).
• Characterization of electrochemical performance, including capacitance and energy density.

Main Results:

• The flexible anode achieved an ultrahigh capacitance of 9501 mF cm^-2 at 30.1 mg cm^-2 mass loading.
• The flexible cathode demonstrated a high capacitance of 6212 mF cm^-2 at 25 mg cm^-2 mass loading.
• The assembled flexible supercapacitor achieved a record energy density of 1.42 mWh cm^-2.

Conclusions:

• The engineered nitrogen-doped carbon interface enhances conductivity, porosity, and electrolyte affinity for superior ion and electron transport.
• The flexible electrode design accommodates high mass loading of active materials, leading to high-performance flexible energy storage devices.
• This versatile design offers a new strategy for developing advanced flexible supercapacitors.