Self-Healing, Highly-Stretchable, Transparent, and Ion-Conducting Hydrogel Electrolyte-Based Microsupercapacitor for Flexible Electronics

Abstract

We report a flexible, hydrogel-based electrolyte material for microsupercapacitors with: 1) self-healing property in ambient environment, 2) high stretchability (elongation> 1000%), 3) 280 times increase in ion-conductivity as compared to that of conventional polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based acidic electrolytes, and 4) high transparency. A transfer-printing-based patterning process was developed to allow high-resolution pattering on hydrogel. Prototype self-healable micro-supercapacitors (SHMS) have been fabricated with three key demonstrations: 1) working as a power supply for commercial LEDs, 2) retention of same performances before/after a 180-degree folding process, and 3) restoration of performances even after being cut through by a razor blade and after the self-healing process.