Stimuli-Responsive Materials-Based Smart Supercapacitors: Design, Progress, and Perspectives

Abstract

With the rapid development of portable/wearable electronics, it is highly desirable to develop the external stimuli-responsive (e.g., temperature, magnetic field, light, voltage) energy storage systems to meet the requirements of these devices. Among them, stimulus-responsive materials-based smart supercapacitors (SCs) have attracted much attention due to their combination of SCs advantages and specific responses to environmental stimuli. As a key component of such smart devices, stimuli-responsive materials play a significant role in the design of smart SCs. Despite some progress, the design, fabrication, and application of multi-responsive materials for building smart SCs are still in the early stages, especially regarding the effects of each force/stimulation on capacitor behavior. Therefore, it is vital to summarize the research works and developments, which are not only instructive for researchers in this field but also crucial for the development of other smart energy storage devices. In this scenario, our review timely summarizes the latest reported stimuli-responsive materials-based SCs, covering their fundamental principles, design strategies, and configuration as well as their capacitor behaviour correlated to external forces/stimulations. Particularly, the different ways in which external forces/stimulation can interact with the components of SCs are discussed. Furthermore, future perspectives and challenges in this field for the development of multi-responsive electrode-material-based smart SCs are highlighted. Additionally, it is expected that this summary will place stimulus-responsive SCs in practical applications and provide insights for the design of other smart energy storage devices.