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Textile supercapacitors
Dissertation   Open access

Textile supercapacitors

Kristy Alana Jost
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
01 Jun 2015
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-6353
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Abstract

Supercapacitors--Materials Energy storage Materials Science
Innovative and interdisciplinary solutions to wearable textile energy storage are explored as power sources for wearable electronics and smart textiles. Due to their long cycle life, non-toxic and inexpensive materials, supercapacitors were converted into textiles. Textile supercapacitors were developed using scalable fabrication methods including screen-printing, yarn making, and 3D computerized knitting. The electrode materials reported in this thesis undergo thorough electrochemical analysis, and are capable of storing up to 0.5 F/cm2 which is on par with conventionally solid supercapacitors (0.6 F/cm2). Capacitive yarns are capable of storing up to 37 mF/cm and are shown to be knittable on industrial knitting equipment. Both are some of the highest reported capacitance for all-carbon systems in the field. Yet both are the only systems composed of inexpensive and non-toxic activated carbon, the most commonly used electrode material used in supercapacitors, opposed to carbon nanotubes or graphene, which are typically more 10-100 times more expensive. However, all of the fabrication techniques reported here are also capable of incorporating a wide variety of materials, ultimately broadening the applications of textile energy storage as a whole. Fully machine knitted supercapacitors are also explored and electrochemically characterized in order to determine how the textile structure affects the capacitance. In conclusion, a wide variety of fabrication techniques for making textile supercapacitors were successfully explored.

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