An ultrathin robust polymer membrane for wearable solid-state electrochemical energy storage

Abstract

Abstract Developing lightweight, flexible, and foldable electrodes with decent mechanical durability and electrochemical activity is a highly desirable goal for solid-state electrochemical energy storage devices yet remains a formidable challenge to overcome. Herein, we invent a freestanding robust PANI membrane via introducing the dynamic boronate bond to bridge rigid PANI chains with complaint polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) chains. The resultant PANI/PVA membrane (PPM) exhibits remarkable elasticity (17.8% strain) along with excellent tensile strength (33.7 MPa), outperforming the majority of existing state-of-the-art flexible electrochemical PANI membranes. Additionally, the PPM can be further assembled into a wearable solid-state supercapacitor with high electrochemical performance as well as decent mechanical durability. The lightweight, flexible, and foldable PANI membrane represents a great advancement in electrode materials for next-generation wearable solid-state electrochemical energy storage devices.