Novel Flexible Supercapacitors Fabricated by Simple Integration of Electrodes, Binders, and Electrolytes into Glass Fibre Separators

Abstract

We report novel and simple structure of supercapacitors fabricated by using flexibleglass fibre separators as templates. This method does not require separate electrodes, bindersand high pressure/temperature to build the supercapacitor unit cells as required by the conventionaltechnology. The supercapacitors were fabricated by drop-casting solution mixtures of carbonaceousactive materials/gel electrolytes onto two sides of glass fibre separators. Twocarbonaceous materials (nanoscaled activated carbons, multi-walled carbon nanotubes) wereinvestigated as electrode materials. The electrochemical measurements reveal that the separatorbasedsupercapacitors using ACs successfully demonstrated significant mass specific capacitance(22.3 F g−1) and energy density (9.7Wh kg−1), indicating this method can be useful in fabricatingflexible, wearable and stretchable energy storage devices in more straightforward andcost-effective way than current technology.