Electrochemically synthesized stretchable polypyrrole/fabric electrodes for supercapacitor

Wearable electronics offer the combined advantages of both electronics and fabrics. Being an indispensable part of these electronics, lightweight, stretchable and wearable power sources are strongly demanded. Here we describe a daily-used cotton fabric coated with polypyrrole as electrode for stretchable supercapacitors. Polypyrrole was synthesized on the Au coated fabric via an electrochemical polymerization process with p-toluenesulfonic acid (p-TS) as dopant from acetonitrile solution. This material was characterized with FESEM, tensile stress, and studied as a supercapacitor electrode in 1.0 M NaCl. This conductive textile electrode can sustain up to 140% strain without electric failure. It delivers a high specific capacitance of 254.9 Fg(-1) at a scan rate of 10 mV s(-1), and keeps almost unchanged at an applied strain (i.e. 30% and 50%) but with an improved cycling stability. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.