Polyaniline - Corn husk fiber composite based flexible self-standing electrode: preparation and electrochemical properties

In order to meet the increasing requirements of wearable electronic devices, low-cost, high-performance flexible supercapacitors have become a research hotspot. In this work, flexible, self-standing PANI-CHF-GEL electrode was obtained by growing polyaniline (PANI) on the surface of corn husk fiber (CHF) and mixed with polyvinyl alcohol/sulfuric acid (PVA/H2SO4) gel, followed by a facile frozen-thawing method. PANI-CHF-GEL exhibits excellent mechanical properties (a fracture strength of 259 kPa at a fracture strain of 121%) and good toughness (a fracture energy of 0.167 MJ·cm−3). Employing PVA/H2SO4 as the gel electrolyte, the symmetric PANI-CHF-GEL//PANI-CHF-GEL solid supercapacitor delivers an areal capacitance of 1789.74 mF·cm−2, a power density of 0.34 mW·cm−2, and a corresponding energy density of 3.51 mWh·cm−2 (@3.00 mA·cm−2). Moreover, the device retains its original properties even bent 90°, indicating its promise potentials for wearable electronics.