A strong and sticky hydrogel electrolyte for flexible supercapacitors

Abstract

With the rapid development of flexible supercapacitors (SCs), there is increasing demand for high-performance solid electrolyte to replace the conventional liquid electrolyte. Hydrogel electrolyte is one of the promising candidates, which possesses solid state but contains plenty of water within its highly porous structure. In this paper, a strong and sticky hydrogel has been synthesized using bacterial cellulose (BC) and poly (acrylic acid) (PAA). The results of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy shows that two components are well combined. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test shows that BC/PAA has a highly porous structure, which is modified by the interaction between BC nanofibers and acrylic acid monomer. Double network created by BC and PAA not only enhances the mechanical property of PAA but also improves the anti-compression ability of BC. Moreover, a sticky property is recognized within BC/PAA due to PAA, which can prevent the spilt of two flexible electrodes. The high ionic strength makes PAA shrink in 1M Na2SO4. However, the swelling ratio of BC/PAA could still reach to approximately 500% and its ionic conductivity is about 0.06 S·cm-1. This prepared BC/PAA hydrogel electrolyte has a great potential to be used in flexible SCs. © 2016 Author(s).