Electrochemical Behavior of Fibrous Supercapacitor According to the Design of Gel-Electrolyte

Electronic textiles promise to provide an intelligent platform to enlarge the scope of wearable electronic applications. Therefore, the combination of flexible energy storage devies into wearable systems is a key for operating these electronic textiles during bending, knotting, and rolling. Nonetheless, the application of fibrous supercapacitors consisting of a gel-electrolyte and carbon fiber electrode is still obstructed by low capacitance, low rate-performance, and poor cycling stability owing to the inefficient interface between the gel-electrolyte and electrode. Here, a fibrous supercapacitor is obtained using an optimized gelelectrolyte that improves the ionic diffusion capability. The optimized fibrous supercapacitor shows a superior electrochemical performance, including high specific capacitance of 41 mF cm−2 at current density of 2.0 μA cm−2, high-rate performance with 17 mF cm−2 at a current density of 15.0 μA cm−2, and outstanding cycling stability (88% after 3,000 cycles at a current density of 200.0 μA cm−2). The excellent energy storage performance is mainly attributed to the optimzied interface between the gelelectrolyte and electrode material, leading to an improved ionic diffusion capability.