Realizing high-voltage and ultralong-life supercapacitors by a universal interfacial engineering strategy

Low energy density hinders the development of supercapacitors in the market of large hybrid power equipment and electric vehicles that demand much higher energy density. Herein, we conduct a facile and environmentally friendly method to modify the electrodes of supercapacitors through coating a dielectric thin film by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique, which profoundly improves the electrochemical performance of the electrodes. In specific, the gravimetric capacitance of the ALD-Ti modified electrodes is characterized by 35% significant promotion comparing to the commercialized pristine counterparts, and the operational voltage window of the ALD treated electrodes can expand to 3.5 V using organic electrolyte with remarkable capacitance retention (over 83%) even after 20000 cycles. Besides, appropriate models are established to discuss the detailed charge storage mechanism and possible reasons for good stability of modified electrodes under higher operational voltage. Moreover, the excellent rate and cycling performance of ALD modified electrodes in flexible electrochemical double-layer capacitor (EDLCs) at the bending state substantiates the application superiority of ALD modified electrodes in flexible devices. The unusual combination of charge storage mechanisms of dielectric capacitors and EDLCs established in our work represents specific properties in great need for energy storage applications.

Automated summary

The modification of electrodes using ALD technique significantly improves the electrochemical performance of supercapacitors, leading to increased gravimetric capacitance and expanded operational voltage window. Models were established to discuss the charge storage mechanism and reasons for the stability of the modified electrodes under higher voltage. The ALD modified electrodes also demonstrated excellent rate and cycling performance in flexible electrochemical double-layer capacitors, highlighting their application superiority in flexible devices and potential for energy storage applications.