A Highly Elastic and Fatigue-Resistant Natural Protein-Reinforced Hydrogel Electrolyte for Reversible-Compressible Quasi-Solid-State Supercapacitors

Jingya Nan, Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products Chinese Academy of Forestry Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province Nanjing Jiangsu 210042 China.
Gaitong Zhang, Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products Chinese Academy of Forestry Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province Nanjing Jiangsu 210042 China.
Tianyu Zhu, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of South Carolina Columbia SC 29208 USA.
Zhongkai Wang, Biomass Molecular Engineering Center Anhui Agricultural University Hefei Anhui 230036 China.
Lijun Wang, Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products Chinese Academy of Forestry Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province Nanjing Jiangsu 210042 China.
Hongsheng Wang, Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products Chinese Academy of Forestry Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province Nanjing Jiangsu 210042 China.
Fuxiang Chu, Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products Chinese Academy of Forestry Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province Nanjing Jiangsu 210042 China.
Chunpeng Wang, Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products Chinese Academy of Forestry Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province Nanjing Jiangsu 210042 China.
Chuanbing Tang, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of South Carolina Columbia SC 29208 USA.

© 2020 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

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Abstract

Compressible solid-state supercapacitors are emerging as promising power sources for next-generation flexible electronics with enhanced safety and mechanical integrity. Highly elastic and compressible solid electrolytes are in great demand to achieve reversible compressibility and excellent capacitive stability of these supercapacitor devices. Here, a lithium ion-conducting hydrogel electrolyte by integrating natural protein nanoparticles into polyacrylamide network is reported. Due to the synergistic effect of natural protein nanoparticles and polyacrylamide chains, the obtained hydrogel shows remarkable elasticity, high compressibility, and fatigue resistance properties. More significantly, the supercapacitor device based on this hydrogel electrolyte exhibits reversible compressibility under multiple cyclic compressions, working well under 80% strain for 1000 compression cycles without sacrificing its capacitive performance. This work offers a promising approach for compressible supercapacitors.