Reduced graphene oxide and polypyrrole/reduced graphene oxide composite coated stretchable fabric electrodes for supercapacitor application

By Chen Zhao and Kewei Shu and Caiyun Wang and Sanjeev Gambhir and Gordon G. Wallace
Published in Electrochimica Acta NULL 2015

Abstract

The advent of self-powered functional garments has given rise to a demand for stretchable energy storage devices that are amendable to integration into textile structures. The electromaterials (anode, cathode and separator) are expected to sustain a deformation of 3% to 55% associated with body movement. Here, we report a stretchable fabric supercapacitor electrode using commonly available nylon lycra fabric as the substrate and graphene oxide (GO) as a dyestuff. It was prepared via a facile dyeing approach followed by a mild chemical reduction. This reduced graphene oxide (rGO) coated fabric electrode retains conductivity at an applied strain of up to 200%. It delivers a specific capacitance of 12.3 F g?1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s?1 in 1.0 M lithium sulfate aqueous solution. The capacitance is significantly increased to 114 F g?1 with the addition of a chemically synthesized polypyrrole (PPy) coating. This PPy-rGO-fabric electrode demonstrates an improved cycling stability and a higher capacitance at 50% strain when compared to the performance observed with no strain.

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