Facile preparation of N-doped carbon/FeOx-decorated carbon cloth for flexible symmetric solid-state supercapacitors

Abstract

A facile strategy for the preparation of N-doped carbon/FeOx-decorated carbon cloth (CC@NC/FeOx) as supercapacitor electrode is reported in this work. In this strategy, the oxidant Fe3+ used for oxidizing pyrrole to polypyrrole (PPy) on the cotton cloth simultaneously acts as the precursor of FeOx in CC@NC/FeOx. N-doped carbon derived from the carbonization of PPy coated on the carbonized cotton cloth is obtained during the heat treatment. The as-prepared integrated, binder-free, and flexible CC@NC/FeOx electrode shows a good specific supercapacitance (1594.0 F g−1 at the scan rate of 1 mV s−1 and 739.0 F g−1 at 10 mV s−1). The assembled CC@NC/FeOx-based solid-state symmetrical supercapacitor (CC@NC/FeOx-SSC) exhibits 1.35 F cm−2 at the scan rate of 1 mV s−1. The high surface area from the nanosheet structure and the excellent conductivity due to the existence of Fe3O4 contributes to their rate capability and the cyclability. This simple strategy offers an environmentally friendly, cost-effective and easily scaled-up route for the integrated, binder-free, and flexible supercapacitor electrode.