A flexible fabric electrode with hierarchical carbon-polymer composite for functional supercapacitors

To obtain high-performance electrode on fabric substrate for flexible supercapacitors (SCs), a new composite electrode incorporating the conducting polymer poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) within the nanocomposite film of the reduced graphene oxide/carbon nanotubes (rGO/CNTs) has been proposed and fabricated successfully. By repeating spaying process and using vapor phase polymerization (VPP) method, an rGO/CNTs/PEDOT nanocomposite film is developed on the flexible non-woven fabric substrate and the composite electrode with hierarchical structure is obtained. The unique interconnected structure ensures that the flexible fabric electrode has a specific capacitance high up to 164 F/g at current density 0.1 A/g and an equivalent-series resistance (R _ESR ) lower than 3.53 Ω. Moreover, the composite electrode exhibits good stability with capacitance retentions over 93% even it is bent 1000 times. Devices based on this composite electrode are constructed and reversibly cycle at a voltage of 1 V, which provide a volume energy density of 22.8 mWh/g and retain 98% capacitance of the initial value under a 90° bending angle. This work suggests that our new composite electrode is a promising candidate for the high-performance energy-storage devices, and flexible and wearable electronic components.