Flexible and Wire-Shaped Micro-Supercapacitor Based on Ni(OH)2-Nanowire and Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Electrodes

Portable and multifunctional electronic devices are developing in the trend of being small, flexible, roll-up, and even wearable, which asks us to develop flexible and micro-sized energy conversion/storage devices. Here, the high performance of a flexible, wire-shaped, and solid-state micro-supercapacitor, which is prepared by twisting a Ni(OH)2-nanowire fiber-electrode and an ordered mesoporous carbon fiber-electrode together with a polymer electrolyte, is demonstrated. This micro-supercapacitor displays a high specific capacitance of 6.67 mF cm-1 (or 35.67 mF cm-2) and a high specific energy density of 0.01 mWh cm-2 (or 2.16 mWh cm-3), which are about 10-100 times higher than previous reports. Furthermore, its capacitance retention is 70% over 10 000 cycles, indicating perfect cyclic ability. Two wire-shaped micro-supercapacitors (0.6 mm in diameter, approximate to 3 cm in length) in series can successfully operate a red light-emitting-diode, indicating promising practical application. Furthermore, synchrotron radiation X-ray computed microtomography technology is employed to investigate inner structure of the micro-device, confirming its solid-state characteristic. This micro-supercapacitor may bring new design opportunities of device configuration for energy-storage devices in the future wearable electronic area.