Nanocarbon-Based Materials for Flexible All-Solid-State Supercapacitors

Abstract

Because of the rapid development of flexible electronics, it is important to develop high-performance flexible energy-storage devices, such as supercapacitors and metal-ion batteries. Compared with metal-ion batteries, supercapacitors exhibit higher power density, longer cycling life, and excellent safety, and they can be easily fabricated into all-solid-state devices by using polymer gel electrolytes. All-solid-state supercapacitors (ASSSCs) have the advantages of being lightweight and flexible, thus showing great potential to be used as power sources for flexible portable electronics. Because of their high specific surface area and excellent electrical and mechanical properties, nanocarbon materials (such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon nanofibers, and so on) have been widely used as efficient electrode materials for flexible ASSSCs, and great achievements have been obtained. Here, the recent advances in flexible ASSSCs are summarized, from design strategies to fabrication techniques for nanocarbon electrodes and devices. Current challenges and future perspectives are also discussed.

Keywords: all-solid-state; flexible materials; integrated devices; nanocarbon; supercapacitors.