Highly Reversibly Stretchable and Elastically Wearable Textile Supercapacitor

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Textile Engineering

Background:

• Commercialization of textile-based wearable supercapacitors is hindered by challenges in achieving rapid and full mechanical recovery.
• Existing wearable energy storage devices often compromise durability and performance under mechanical stress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop highly stretchable and rapidly reboundable textile supercapacitors (TSCs).
• To enhance the mechanical robustness and electrochemical performance of wearable energy storage devices.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of NiCu2Se3/Cu-Ni alloy-plated cotton cloth (CNAPCC) as cathode and Fe2CuSe3/CNAPCC as anode via in situ oxidation and ion exchange.
• Construction of a stable double-network (DN) structure integrating knitted cotton cloth (KCC) and a Cu-Ni alloy-plated layer (CNAPL).
• Electrochemical testing including energy density, power density, and cycling stability under various strain conditions.

Main Results:

• The DN textile structure provides electrodes with 470% elongation at break and rapid recovery (0.2 s) after 100% strain.
• The assembled TSC achieved an energy density of 82 Wh kg-1 at 750 W kg-1.
• Demonstrated excellent cycling stability with 92.2% capacitance retention after 50,000 cycles under static stretching up to 200% strain.

Conclusions:

• The developed DN textile-based TSCs exhibit superior stretchability, rapid recovery, and stable electrochemical performance.
• This work presents a promising strategy for robust and high-performance wearable energy storage solutions.
• The findings pave the way for advanced textile electronics with enhanced mechanical resilience and energy capabilities.