MnOx-Electrodeposited Fabric-Based Stretchable Supercapacitors with Intrinsic Strain Sensing

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide The increasing number of devices needed by wearable systems to bring radical advances in healthcare, robotics, and human–machine interfaces is a threat to their growth if the integration and energy-related challenges are not managed. A natural solution is to reduce the number of devices while retaining the functionality or simply using multifunctional devices, as demonstrated here through a stretchable supercapacitor (SSC) with intrinsic strain sensing. The presented SSC was obtained by electrodeposition of nanoflower MnO x on fabric (as a pseudocapacitive electrode) and three-dimensional conductive wrapping of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) to boost the performance. Among fabricated devices, the stretchable PEDOT:PSS/MnO x /PEDOT:PSS supercapacitor (SPMP-SC) showed the best performance (specific capacitance of 580 mF·cm –2 (108.1 F·g –1 ); energy density of 51.4 μWh·cm –2 at 0.5 mA). The stretchability (0–100%; 1000 cycles) analysis of SPMP-SC with Ecoflex encapsulation showed high capacitance retention (>90% for 40% stretch). The intrinsic strain sensing of the SSC was confirmed by the linear variation of capacitance (sensitivity −0.4%) during stretching. Finally, as a proof-of-concept, the application of SSC with intrinsic sensing was demonstrated for health monitoring through volumetric expansion of a manikin during ventilator operation and in robotics and by measuring the joint angle of a robotic hand.