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01 June 2010
Aqueous Supercapacitors on Conductive Cotton
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Wearable electronics offer the combined advantages of both electronics and fabrics. In this article, we report the fabrication of wearable supercapacitors using cotton fabric as an essential component. Carbon nanotubes are conformally coated onto the cotton fibers, leading to a highly electrically conductive interconnecting network. The porous carbon nanotube coating functions as both active material and current collector in the supercapacitor. Aqueous lithium sulfate is used as the electrolyte in the devices, because it presents no safety concerns for human use. The supercapacitor shows high specific capacitance (~70–80 F·g−1 at 0.1 A·g−1) and cycling stability (negligible decay after 35, 000 cycles). The extremely simple design and fabrication process make it applicable for providing power in practical electronic devices.
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Aqueous Supercapacitors on Conductive Cotton
)
Abstract
Wearable electronics offer the combined advantages of both electronics and fabrics. In this article, we report the fabrication of wearable supercapacitors using cotton fabric as an essential component. Carbon nanotubes are conformally coated onto the cotton fibers, leading to a highly electrically conductive interconnecting network. The porous carbon nanotube coating functions as both active material and current collector in the supercapacitor. Aqueous lithium sulfate is used as the electrolyte in the devices, because it presents no safety concerns for human use. The supercapacitor shows high specific capacitance (~70–80 F·g−1 at 0.1 A·g−1) and cycling stability (negligible decay after 35, 000 cycles). The extremely simple design and fabrication process make it applicable for providing power in practical electronic devices.
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Acknowledgements
Y. C. acknowledges support from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Investigator Award (No. KUS-l1-001-12).
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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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