Flexible, in-plane, and all-solid-state micro-supercapacitors based on printed interdigital Au/polyaniline network hybrid electrodes on a chip

Abstract

A simple and rapid fabrication method involving laser printing technology and in situ anodic electropolymerization is introduced to fabricate interdigital Au/polyaniline network hybrid electrodes on polyethylene terephthalate films for flexible, in-plane, and all-solid-state micro-supercapacitors. The as-obtained micro-supercapacitors acquire a maximum energy density of 5.83 mW h cm⁻³ and a maximum power density of 0.45 W cm⁻³ that are both comparable to or superior to the values obtained for currently available state-of-the-art planar supercapacitors/micro-supercapacitors. In addition, the micro-supercapacitors exhibit remarkably high mechanical flexibility and show a good cycling stability, with 72.7% retention of the specific capacity after 1000 cycles. Moreover, the micro-supercapacitors can be optionally connected in series or in parallel to meet the voltage and capacity requirements for a given application. Compared to traditional fabrication approaches for flexible micro-supercapacitors with an interdigital in-plane design, the method demonstrated here does not involve a complicated lithography process, toxic chemical treatments, expensive rigid template, and cumbersome fabrication of jettable and stable precursor ink, which provides a simple route for fabrication of flexible planar micro-supercapacitors with high-practicality and high-performance.