A planar supercapacitor made of supramolecular nanofibre based solid electrolyte exhibiting 8V window 

S. Kundu, U. Mogera, S. J. George and G. U. Kulkarni
Nano Energy, 61, 259-266 (2019)

Miniaturized self-powered wearable electronic gadgets, aimed to integrate with the future lifestyle, demand compatible micro-packets of energy sources. While tiny batteries could provide the desired supply, they are simply incapable when it comes to energy requirements in the form of a power pulse which capacitors could deliver only if their energy storage capability is increased. Supercapacitors are poised to fill the gap in between providing desirable energy and power densities in one go. One critical step in the development of efficient supercapacitors relates to enhancing the operable voltage window, as the energy density depends quadratically on the former value. Present day supercapacitors, however, operate with voltages typically below 3 V. The present work reports a simple method for the fabrication of a planar supercapacitor using organic nanofibres as solid-state electrolyte drop coated on low-cost titanium metal microelectrodes. What is noteworthy is that the fabricated device offers an operating voltage of 8 V, which is unprecedented. Other relevant parameters such as ambient stability, cyclability and capacity retention also fall in line making the device overall high performing. This is perhaps the first attempt of exploring fast ion movements in ordered conducting organic nanofibres for charge storage.

Posted by S. Kundu.