Highly stable, stretchable, and versatile electrodes by coupling of NiCoS nanosheets with metallic networks for flexible electronics

• Published in: Nanoscale 2022-06, Vol.14 (22), p.8172-8182
• Main Authors: Zhong, Yu, Liang, Jionghong, Zhang, Bolun, Wang, Fengming, Huang, Weiqing, Cai, Guofa, Zhang, Chi, Xin, Yue, Chen, Bohua, He, Xin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cobalt sulfide; Coupling; Electrodes; Electronics; Energy storage; Flexible components; Nanosheets; Nanostructure; Nanowires; Networks; Pressure sensors; Silver; Stability; Storage capacity; Substrates; Wearable technology
• ISSN: 2040-3364; 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/d2nr01890j

The rapid development of portable electronics has contributed to an urgent demand for versatile and flexible electrodes of wearable energy storage devices and pressure sensors. We fabricate a stretchable electrode by coupling the nickel-cobalt sulfide (NiCoS) nanosheet layer with Ag@NiCo nanowire (NW) networks. NiCoS wrinkled nanostructure, highly conductive networks, and intense interactions between substrate/networks and active materials/networks endow the electrodes with excellent energy storage capacity, superior electrochemical/mechanical stability, and good conductivity. A high-performance asymmetric supercapacitor is developed using the composite electrode. It operates in a wide potential window of 1.4 V and achieves a maximum energy density of 40.0 W h kg −1 at a power density of 1.1 kW kg −1 ; it also exhibits excellent mechanical flexibility and good waterproof performance. Moreover, a sandwiched capacitive pressure sensor constructed using the same electrodes has a wide sensing range (up to 260 kPa), low detection limit (∼47 mN), fast response (∼66 ms), and excellent mechanical stability (10 000 cycles). This study demonstrates that the appropriate design of the functional electrode facilitates the construction of various high-performance devices, denoting the versatility of our electrodes in the development of wearable electronics. Flexible electrodes based on Ag@NiCo NWs-NiCoS were developed for wearable and waterproof supercapacitor and stable capacitive sensor.