Shape-controllable and -tailorable multi-walled carbon nanotube/MnO2/shape-memory polyurethane composite film for supercapacitor

A new shaped memory, energy storage and all-solid-state supercapacitor is manufactured by incorporating the prepared multi-walled carbon nanotube/MnO2 (MWCNT/MnO2) composite film into the shape memory polyurethane (SMPU) substrate. The resultant multi-walled carbon nanotube/MnO2/shape-memory polyurethane (MWCNT/MnO2/SMPU) hybrid film can be changed into various shapes under an external force and maintained them after removing the external force. And it would recover to its original state within one second once the temperature is above the glass transition temperature of SMPU. Furthermore, the MWCNT/MnO2/SMPU hybrid film used as the electrode maintains a high areal specific capacitance (69.1 mF cm(-2)) and cycles stability (3000 cycles with only 4.7% loss), making it attractive for supercapacitor. In addition, when the hybrid film was tailored into arbitrary shapes, the capacitance was well proportional to the area. For these properties, the hybrid film can be used in wearable electronics, in which the shapes need to be controlled or tailored. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.