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Tough, self-healable, antifreezing and redox-mediated gel polymer electrolyte with three-role K3[Fe(CN)]6 for wearable flexible supercapacitors

可穿戴柔性超级电容器用强韧、自修复、抗冻的三角色铁氰化钾氧化还原凝胶聚合物电解质

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Abstract

Supercapacitors exhibiting toughness, self-healing, and high specific capacitance have practical significance for use in flexible and wearable electronic equipment. To meet these requirements, a novel multifunctional gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) consisting of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-sodium alginate (SA)-K3[Fe(CN)]6-Na2SO4 was prepared. In this GPE, K3[Fe(CN)]6 plays three crucial roles by serving as a carrier donor, ionic crosslinking agent and redox-active mediator. Consequently, the usual conflict between the conductivity and mechanical properties of GPEs is alleviated to some extent. In addition, the electrode specific capacitance and the energy density of the assembled supercapacitor are obviously improved because of the pseudocapacitance generated from the redox reaction of K3[Fe(CN)]6. Based on this GPE, the supercapacitor exhibits outstanding bending and stretching stabilities, significant self-healing, and anti-freezing properties. Therefore, the prepared GPE and supercapacitor are promising for application in flexible and wearable electronic equipment with complex service conditions.

摘要

超级电容器的韧性、自修复和高比电容对于柔性和可穿戴电子设备具有重要的实用价值. 为此, 我们制备了一种新型的聚乙烯醇-海藻酸钠-铁氰化钾-硫酸钠多功能凝胶聚合物电解质. 其中铁氰化钾起到了三角色作用, 包括载流子供体、离子交联剂和氧化还原活性剂, 有效地缓解了凝胶聚合物电解质通常存在的电导率与机械性能间的矛盾. 此外, 由于铁氰化钾的氧化还原反应提供了赝电容, 组装的超级电容器具有很高的电极比电容和能量密度. 该超级电容器还表现出优异的弯曲、拉伸、自修复和抗冻能力. 因而, 制备的凝胶聚合物电解质和超级电容器在复杂使用条件下的柔性和可穿戴电子设备中具有广阔的应用前景.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Science Foundation for Excellent Youth of Henan Province (202300410166), the Science and Technology Project of Henan Province (212102210201 and 212102310015), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M672179), the Key Project of Science and Technology Research of Henan Provincial Department of Education (21A430017), the Training Program for Young Backbone Teachers in the University of Henan Province (2020GGJS052), and the Major Project of WIUCAS (WIUCASQD2021004 and WIUCASQD2021035).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Henan Key Laboratory of Materials on Deep-Earth Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, 454003, China

    Jia Yang  (杨佳) & Xiaohan Fang  (方潇焓)

  2. College of Materials Engineering, Henan University of Engineering, Zhengzhou, 451191, China

    Jia Yang  (杨佳), Xiang Yu  (于翔) & Xiaoxiang Su  (苏晓翔)

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, 454003, China

    Jia Yang  (杨佳), Mengxiao Wang  (王梦晓), Gang Qin  (秦刚) & Xiaohan Fang  (方潇焓)

  4. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Tao Chen  (陈涛)

  5. Do-Fluoride New Materials Co., Ltd., Jiaozuo, 454191, China

    Gang Qin  (秦刚)

  6. Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wenzhou, 352001, China

    Qiang Chen  (陈强)

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  1. Jia Yang  (杨佳)
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  2. Mengxiao Wang  (王梦晓)
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  3. Tao Chen  (陈涛)
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  4. Xiang Yu  (于翔)
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  7. Xiaoxiang Su  (苏晓翔)
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Contributions

Yang J and Wang M analyzed the data and wrote the paper. Chen T and Fang X performed the experiments and analyzed the data. Su X measured the properties. Qin G analyzed the data. Yu X and Chen Q conceived and designed the experiments.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiang Yu  (于翔), Gang Qin  (秦刚) or Qiang Chen  (陈强).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary Information

Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Xiang Yu is a professor of the School of Materials Engineering at Henan University of Engineering. He received a BS degree from Nanjing Forestry University in 2007 and a PhD degree from Zhengzhou University in 2010. His research focuses on functional hydrogels and polymer crystallization.

Qiang Chen is a professor at Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (WIUCAS). He received a BS degree from Henan University in 2004 and a PhD degree from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009. He was a lecturer (2009), and promoted as an associated professor (2012) and a full professor (2019) at Henan Polytechnic University. In 2021, he joined WIUCAS. His current research mainly focuses on the development of functional tough hydrogels and their interfacial applications.

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Tough, self-healable, antifreezing and redox-mediated gel polymer electrolyte with three-role K3[Fe(CN)]6 for wearable flexible supercapacitors

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Yang, J., Wang, M., Chen, T. et al. Tough, self-healable, antifreezing and redox-mediated gel polymer electrolyte with three-role K3[Fe(CN)]6 for wearable flexible supercapacitors. Sci. China Mater. 66, 1779–1792 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2327-3

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