Extremely Durable, Flexible Supercapacitors with Greatly Improved Performance at High Temperatures

Sung Kon Kim, Hae Jin Kim, Jong Chan Lee, Paul V. Braun, Ho Seok Park

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The reliability and durability of energy storage devices are as important as their essential characteristics (e.g., energy and power density) for stable power output and long lifespan and thus much more crucial under harsh conditions. However, energy storage under extreme conditions is still a big challenge because of unavoidable performance decays and the inevitable damage of components. Here, we report high-temperature operating, flexible supercapacitors (f-SCs) that can provide reliable power output and extreme durability under severe electrochemical, mechanical, and thermal conditions. The outstanding capacitive features (e.g., ∼40% enhancement of the rate capability and a maximum capacitances of 170 F g-1 and 18.7 mF cm-2 at 160 °C) are attributed to facilitated ion transport at elevated temperatures. Under high-temperature operation and/or a flexibility test in both static and dynamic modes at elevated temperatures >100 °C, the f-SCs showed extreme long-term stability of 100000 cycles (>93% of initial capacitance value) and mechanical durability after hundreds of bending cycles (at bend angles of 60-180). Even at 120 °C, the versatile design of tandem serial and parallel f-SCs was demonstrated to provide both desirable energy and power requirements at high temperatures.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)8569-8577
Number of pages9
JournalACS Nano
Volume9
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 25 2015

Keywords

  • energy storage
  • graphene
  • high temperature
  • polybenzimidazole
  • supercapacitor

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • General Engineering
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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