Self-assembly of graphene aerogel on copper wire for wearable fiber-shaped supercapacitors

Abstract

Wearable wire-shaped supercapacitors were fabricated exploiting an innovative graphene aerogel self-assembly procedure on copper wire. The innovative aspect of the proposed procedure lies in the employment, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, of a hydrothermal graphene synthesis for an in situ coverage of a non-planar substrate. Specific capacitance per unit length was calculated to be about 12,5 mF/cm. The device can sustain repeated charge–discharge and bending cycles without suffering significant deterioration of specific capacitance. The combination of graphene aerogel self-coating method, flexibility and superior electrochemical performance makes the proposed device a suitable power source for e-textile applications.