High-Performance Fiber-Shaped All-Solid-State Asymmetric Supercapacitors Based on Ultrathin MnO2 Nanosheet/Carbon Fiber Cathodes for Wearable Electronics

• Published in: Advanced energy materials Vol. 6; no. 2
• Main Authors: Yu, Neng, Yin, Hong, Zhang, Wei, Liu, Yuan, Tang, Zhiyong, Zhu, Ming-Qiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.2016; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: asymmetric supercapacitors; Carbon fibers; cathodes; fiber-shaped; nanosheet arrays; wearable electronics
• ISSN: 1614-6832; 1614-6840
• DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201501458

Flexible fiber‐shaped supercapacitors have shown great potential in portable and wearable electronics. However, small specific capacitance and low operating voltage limit the practical application of fiber‐shaped supercapacitors in high energy density devices. Herein, direct growth of ultrathin MnO2 nanosheet arrays on conductive carbon fibers with robust adhesion is exhibited, which exhibit a high specific capacitance of 634.5 F g−1 at a current density of 2.5 A g−1 and possess superior cycle stability. When MnO2 nanosheet arrays on carbon fibers and graphene on carbon fibers are used as a positive electrode and a negative electrode, respectively, in an all‐solid‐state asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC), the ASC displays a high specific capacitance of 87.1 F g−1 and an exceptional energy density of 27.2 Wh kg−1. In addition, its capacitance retention reaches 95.2% over 3000 cycles, representing the excellent cyclic ability. The flexibility and mechanical stability of these ASCs are highlighted by the negligible degradation of their electrochemical performance even under severely bending states. Impressively, as‐prepared fiber‐shaped ASCs could successfully power a photodetector based on CdS nanowires without applying any external bias voltage. The excellent performance of all‐solid‐state ASCs opens up new opportunity for development of wearable and self‐powered nanodevices in near future. Wearable, fiber‐shaped, and all‐solid‐state asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs) are successfully constructed with a maximum operating voltage of 1.5 V using ultrathin MnO2 nanosheets and graphene on carbon fibers as positive and negative electrode, respectively. The fabricated fiber‐shaped ASCs display excellent bendability and mechanical stability, and possess enough energy to power a CdS nanowire photodetector without applying any external bias voltage.