Re-stickable All-Solid-State Supercapacitor Supported by Cohesive Thermoplastic for Textile Electronics
Guilin Tang, Yan Qiao, Ling Yu, Chang Ming Li, Zhisong Lu
Abstract
The textile-based flexible electronic device has attracted considerable attention due to its excellent conformability, skin affinity, and compatibility with the clothing industry. However, the machine-washing process may damage the electronic components, further resulting in the failure of the device. Herein, parafilm, a commercially available cohesive thermoplastic, is introduced as both a substrate and encapsulating material to fabricate an all-solid-state supercapacitor, which could be tightly stuck on and easily peeled off from a fabric. The supercapacitor possesses excellent capacitive behavior (73.7 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g), long cycle life (capacitance retention >90% after 5000 cycles), and great flexibility (capacitance retention >98% after 100 times of bending/twisting). After water flushing and soaking, the capacitance of the supercapacitor could be retained at about 98% of its original level. A parafilm-based piezoresistive sensor with good pressure-sensing performance has also been fabricated via the same approach to demonstrate the universality of the proposed strategy for textile re-stickable electronics. This work may not only fabricate novel flexible electronic systems for wearable applications but also provide a universal strategy to address the machine-washing issues in textile electronics.