High-performance compressible supercapacitors based on functionally synergic multiscale carbon composite textiles

High-performance compressible supercapacitors were realized based on functionally synergic multiscale carbon composite textiles. The composite textiles were fabricated by introducing nanoscale carbon fillers, i.e., carbon nanotube (CNT) or graphene (GN), on activated carbon fiber felt (ACFF) body material using a simple impregnation and freeze-drying method. The prepared CNT/ACFF and GN/ACFF composite textiles preserved the advantages of the ACFF body material in structure, such as being foldable and windable, whereas functionally they showed a synergic effect of the body material and nano-fillers, by integrating the excellent electrical conductivity of the nano-fillers with the high specific surface area and appropriate pore structures of ACFF. Thus, their electrochemical performances were significantly enhanced in the assembled symmetric supercapacitors, compared with those of the existing studies on textile electrodes. Areal capacitance, energy density and power density could be as high as 3350 mF cm(-2), 112 mu W h cm(-2) and 4155 mu W h cm(-2), respectively. Most interestingly, our composite textiles can be compressed into a much smaller-sized and windable supercapacitive device, providing opportunities for their application as portable textile supercapacitors.