Ultrastretchable and superior healable supercapacitors based on a double cross-linked hydrogel electrolyte.

ABSTRACT: Due to inherently poor healable and stretchable features, the most explored polyvinyl alcohol-based gel electrolytes cannot well meet the requirements of stretchable, healable and multifunctional supercapacitors. Here, we report a hydrogel of a copolymer cross-linked by double linkers of Laponite (synthetic hectorite-type clay) and graphene oxide. The resultant hydrogel shows high mechanical stretchability, excellent ionic conductivity, and superior healable performance. Along with designing wrinkled-structure electrodes, supercapacitors fabricated by using this hydrogel as a gel electrolyte not only exhibit ultrahigh mechanical stretchability of 1000%, but also achieve repeated healable performance under treatments of both infrared light irradiation and heating. More significantly, a broken/healed supercapacitor also possesses an ultrahigh stretchability up to 900% with slight performance decay. This hydrogel electrolyte could be easily functionalized by introducing other functional components, and extended for use in other portable and wearable energy related devices with multifunction.

SUBMITTER: Li H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6358613 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature