Graphene-based flexible textile supercapacitor for wearable electronic applications

Islam, Md Rashedul

Abstract

Smart electronic textiles (e-textiles) have drawn significant interests as lightweight, flexible and comfortable next-generation wearable devices due to their ability to continuously monitor, collect, and communicate various physiological parameters. They hold promise for diverse applications, including sportswear, military uniforms, safety instruments, environmental monitoring, and healthcare applications. However, a key challenge in integrating wearable devices into textiles lies in the demand for lightweight, flexible, and high-performance power supply units. Consequently, thin and flexible textile-based supercapacitors are being explored due to their inherent lightweight nature and remarkable power density. Nonetheless, the manufacture of high-performance textile supercapacitors for widespread industrial adoption in a scalable manner remains a formidable challenge.
To address this, the first study establishes an experimental protocol for traditional screen-printing of highly conductive graphene-based conductive inks on textiles showcasing their potential in applications like piezoresistive sensing, EEG electrodes, and supercapacitor electrodes. The resultant screen-printed in-plane textile supercapacitor achieves a notable aerial capacitance of approximately 3.2 mF cm-2. The second study focuses on the scalable exfoliations of two-dimensional materials, specifically graphene and MoS2, and their integration onto textiles using an industrially viable high-speed pad-dry-cure technique for high-performance wearable supercapacitors applications. The graphene-MoS2-graphene tri-layered heterostructure-based textile supercapacitors reveal an impressive areal capacitance of ~180 mF cm-2. In the third study, sustainable digital manufacturing of 2D heterostructure-based textiles was investigated via layer-by-layer inkjet printing of 2D materials (graphene, MoS2 and hBN) onto a rough and porous textile surface. The resulting graphene-hBN-graphene heterostructure textiles showcase a remarkable areal capacitance of ~32.5 mF cm-2, surpassing existing literature on graphene-based inkjet-printed supercapacitors. Finally, the fourth study explores the utilization of a standalone Co/Zn-metal organic framework (MOF) for textile supercapacitor applications employing screen printing, pad-dry-cure, and inkjet printing. The MOF-coated textiles achieve a remarkable areal capacitance of ~359.36 mF cm-2. The findings from these four studies distinctly highlight the promise of textile-based supercapacitors for wearable electronics applications, signifying an important step toward moving from R&D-based textile supercapacitors to actual real-world applications.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 31, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 15, 2023
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11068557
• Award Date: Dec 15, 2023