Low cost and flexible mesh-based supercapacitors for promising large-area flexible/wearable energy storage

Abstract

A simple, low cost and efficient flexible sandwich structure supercapacitor is developed using stainless steel mesh as electrode and commercial pen ink as active material by means of a facile and environment-friendly process. The devices show good capacitance performance, such as high specific capacitance, low inner resistance, high energy density and power density, and ultra-long cycle lifetime. The use of mesh and pen ink significantly lower the fabrication cost of supercapacitors which feature light weight and highly flexible characteristics. The stable and robust ink film on mesh electrode makes it fully compatible for conventional carbon material modification to fabricate pseudocapacitors. The comparison between the mesh-type and plate-type electrode supercapacitors certificates the good electrochemical performance of pen ink film and the advantages of mesh-type electrode. The simple dip-coating method is easily scalable for making large-scale flexible and wearable energy storage devices based on mesh and carbon ink.