A simple method of fabricating binderless nanostructured CuO on carbon cloth for high energy and power density wearable supercapacitors

Wearable supercapacitors (SCs), commonly known as smart SCs, have garnered much attention for wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including smartwatches, sensors, and health monitoring patches. In this direction, the developments of low-cost, flexible, and lightweight electrodes for SCs are highly demanded. Here, an efficient wearable supercapacitor based on copper oxide nanostructures on carbon cloth (CuO Ns/CC) was fabricated by a cost-effective, binder-free, additive-free and simple method of electrodepostion. The CuO Ns/CC electrode exhibits a high specific capacity of 326.6 C/g at 2 A/g and excellent cyclic stability (capacitance retention ~ 97.8%) after 10,000 charge–discharge cycles. Kinetic processes involved in the energy storage mechanism are well discussed. In addition, a solid-state symmetric SC with CuO Ns/CC electrodes has been fabricated, which shows a high energy density of 142.9 Wh/kg at a power density of 18,999.3 W/kg and good cyclic stability. The device performance is retained even after bending the device by 180°, showing the superior flexibility of the SC. The present study is promising for the fabrication of inexpensive, binder-free, and efficient electrodes for smart SCs.