Fabrics Capable of Capacitive Energy Storage

Flexible and lightweight fabric supercapacitors were seamlessly integrated into "smart" garments as an energy source. The electrochemical behavior of porous carbons applied with a traditional printmaking technique (screen printing) onto woven cotton and polyester fabrics was studied in non-toxic, non-flammable aqueous electrolytes. The porous structure of fabrics makes them ideal for supercapacitor applications that need porous films for ion transfer between electrodes. Electrodes derived from activated carbon (YP17) showed a high specific capacitance of 91 F/g on cotton and 85 F/g on polyester (i.e., ~0.43 F/cm²). Replacing conventional activated carbon with high surface area titanium carbidederived carbon (TiC-CDC) and adding highly conductive carbon onions, the capacitance can be improved to 160 F/g.