Thin-film flexible zinc hybrid electrochemical device integrating three chemical pathways

Abstract

Combining the strengths of supercapacitors and batteries onto a single device is a holy grail which would enable many applications to be covered by the same device. Here, we firstly develop a hybrid electrochemical device integrating chemical pathways of a zinc hybrid supercapacitor, an electrolytic MnO2-zinc battery and a zinc-iodide battery. The integrated hybrid devices demonstrate a capacity of 453.1 mAh/g (corresponding to an energy of 400.4 Wh/kg, based on weight of activated carbon) and a capacitance of 720.7 F/g at output power of 220.3 W/kg. The three different chemical pathways symbiotically work together, achieving improved cycling performance, shelf-life and Coulombic Efficiencies compared to any of its constituent systems individually.