Abstract
Wearable electronics offer the combined advantages of both electronics and fabrics. In this article, we report the fabrication of wearable supercapacitors using cotton fabric as an essential component. Carbon nanotubes are conformally coated onto the cotton fibers, leading to a highly electrically conductive interconnecting network. The porous carbon nanotube coating functions as both active material and current collector in the supercapacitor. Aqueous lithium sulfate is used as the electrolyte in the devices, because it presents no safety concerns for human use. The supercapacitor shows high specific capacitance (˜70–80 F·g−1 at 0.1 A·g−1) and cycling stability (negligible decay after 35,000 cycles). The extremely simple design and fabrication process make it applicable for providing power in practical electronic devices.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Gniotek, K.; Kruci.ska, I. The basic problems of textronics. Fibres Text. East. Eur. 2004, 12, 13–16.
Lukowicz, P.; Kirstein, T.; Troster, G. Wearable systems for health care applications. Method. Inform. Med. 2004, 43, 232–238.
Park, S.; Jayaraman, S. Smart textiles: Wearable electronic systems. MRS Bull. 2003, 28, 585–591.
Hu, L.; Pasta, M.; La Mantia, F.; Cui, L.; Jeong, S.; Deshazer, H. D.; Choi, J. W.; Han, S. M.; Cui, Y. Stretchable, porous, and conductive energy textiles. Nano Lett. 2010, 10, 708–714.
Hertel, T.; Walkup, R. E.; Avouris, P. Deformation of carbon nanotubes by surface van der Waals forces. Phys. Rev. B 1998, 58, 13870–13873.
An, K. H.; Kim, W. S.; Park, Y. S.; Choi, Y. C.; Lee, S. M.; Chung, D. C.; Bae, D. J.; Lim, S. C.; Lee, Y. H. Supercapacitors using single-walled carbon nanotube electrodes. Adv. Mater. 2001, 13, 497–500.
Iijima, S.; Brabec, C.; Maiti, A.; Bernholc, J. Structural flexibility of carbon nanotubes. J. Chem. Phys. 1996, 104, 2089–2092.
Yu, X.; Lin, B.; Gong, B.; Lin, J.; Wang, R.; Wei, K. Effect of nitric acid treatment on carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-cordierite monoliths supported ruthenium catalysts for ammonia synthesis. Catal. Lett. 2008, 124, 168–173.
Tohji, K.; Goto, T.; Takahashi, H.; Shinoda, Y.; Shimizu, N.; Jeyadevan, B.; Matsuoka, I.; Saito, Y.; Kasuya, A.; Ohsuna, T.; Hiraga, K.; Nisshina, Y. Purifying single-walled nanotubes. Nature 1996, 383, 679.
Parekh, B. B.; Fanchini, G.; Eda, G.; Chhowalla, M. Improved conductivity of transparent single-wall carbon nanotube thin films via stable postdeposition functionalization. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2007, 90, 121913.
Zhou, W.; Vavro, J.; Nemes, N. M.; Fischer, J. E.; Borondics, F.; Kamaras, K.; Tanner, D. B. Charge transfer and Fermi level shift in p-doped single-walled carbon nanotubes. Phys. Rev. B 2005, 71, 205423.
Beaudrouet, E.; Le Gal La Salle, A.; Guyomard, D. Nanostructured manganese dioxides: Synthesis and properties as supercapacitor electrode materials. Electrochim. Acta 2009, 54, 1240–1248.
Prosini, P. P.; Pozio, A.; Botti, S.; Ciardi, R. Electrochemical studies of hydrogen evolution, storage and oxidation on carbon nanotube electrodes. J. Power Sources 2003, 118, 265–269.
Newman, J. S.; Tobias, C. W. J Theoretical analysis of current distribution in porous electrodes. Electrochem. Soc. 1962, 109, 1183–1191.
de Levie, R. Porous electrodes in electrolyte solutions. IV. Electrochim. Acta 1964, 9, 1231.
Ng, S. H.; La Mantia, F.; Novak, P. A multiple working electrode for electrochemical cells: A tool for current density distribution studies. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 528–532.
Daniel-Bek, V. S. Polarization of porous electrodes. I. Distribution of current and potential within an electrode. Zh. Fiz. Khim. 1948, 22, 697–710.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Rights and permissions
Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0 ), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
Pasta, M., La Mantia, F., Hu, L. et al. Aqueous supercapacitors on conductive cotton. Nano Res. 3, 452–458 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-010-0006-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-010-0006-8