MnO₂/Ni-Cu-Plated Polyester Fabric as a Free-Standing Electrode in Supercapacitor Applications

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Flexible electronics require novel electrode materials.
• Polyester fabrics offer a versatile substrate for conductive coatings.
• Manganese dioxide (MnO2) is a promising pseudocapacitive material.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the electrochemical properties of MnO2-deposited Ni-Cu-plated polyester as a flexible electrode.
• To evaluate the performance of supercapacitor cells utilizing these flexible electrodes.
• To compare the performance of asymmetric and symmetric supercapacitor configurations.

Main Methods:

• Ni-Cu plating of polyester fabric followed by MnO2 deposition via KMnO4 immersion.
• Electrical resistance measurement using a two-point probe technique.
• Electrochemical characterization using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charging-discharging (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).
• Surface morphology and elemental analysis using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).
• Assembly and testing of asymmetric supercapacitor cells (ASC) and symmetric supercapacitor cells (SSC).

Main Results:

• MnO2 deposition on Ni-Cu-plated polyester was achieved with varying immersion times.
• SEM analysis confirmed the surface structure and elemental composition.
• The asymmetric supercapacitor cell (ASC) exhibited superior performance compared to the symmetric supercapacitor cell (SSC).
• The ASC achieved areal specific capacitances of 558.6, 481.9, 435.5, and 330 mF cm⁻² at current densities of 2, 4, 8, and 16 mA cm⁻², respectively.

Conclusions:

• Ni-Cu/MnO2-deposited polyester serves as an effective flexible electrode material for supercapacitors.
• The asymmetric supercapacitor configuration demonstrates significantly enhanced energy storage capabilities.
• This research contributes to the development of advanced flexible energy storage devices.