High-performance cotton fabric-based supercapacitors consisting of polypyrrole/Ag/graphene oxide nanocomposite prepared via UV-induced polymerization

Cotton fabric (CF) fabricated by natural cellulose fibers has porous structure, abundant hydrophilic hydroxyl groups and good mechanical flexibility, which is a promising substrate for flexible fabric-based supercapacitors. Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were fixed on the CF by vacuum filtration, and then the pyrrole monomers and silver ions (Ag+) were adsorbed to the surface of GO/CF by pi-pi and electrostatic interactions, respectively. Polypyrrole/silver (PPy/Ag) nanoparticles were generated on the surface of GO/CF via in situ UV-induced polymerization, forming the flexible PPy/Ag/GO/CF electrodes. The electrodes combine three active materials (PPy, Ag and GO), which show good electrochemical performance. The electrode prepared under optimum conditions (UV irradiation time: 120 min; mass loading of GO on the CF: 3 mg cm(-2)) exhibits a high specific capacitance of 1664.0 mF cm(-2). The flexible symmetric quasi-solid-state fabric-based supercapacitor (QFSC) based on the optimum electrode also keeps superior electrochemical performance and excellent mechanical flexibility, which has a great application prospect for wearable energy storage devices.

Automated summary

By fixing graphene oxide and polypyrrole/silver nanoparticles on cotton fabric, researchers have developed flexible electrodes for fabric-based supercapacitors. These electrodes, combining three active materials, exhibit good electrochemical performance, which is significant for flexible fabric-based supercapacitors.