University of Cincinnati, Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Purpose: This project aims to design high-performing, flexible, and low-weight wearable supercapacitors based on carbon nanotubes and incorporate them into the garments of firefighters and first responders. The broader impact of this research is the fabrication of wearable and lightweight displays, antennae, sensors, transistors, and energy storage devices for space applications.

Design: The design of the supercapacitor is simple, wherein the silver-coated CNT fiber is sandwiched between the gel-polymer electrolyte. Two types of gel polymer electrolytes are tried, and the differences in electrochemical properties are assessed. The provision for scaling up is also tried by connecting the supercapacitors in series and parallel according to the voltage and current requirements of the applications.

 

Results: The tensile strength of pristine CNT fiber was improved by 40%, which was used to fabricate the supercapacitor device. The supercapacitor device with high energy density and capacitance was fabricated. Aqueous and ionic electrolytes were used and compared. Scalability, cyclic stability, and flexibility aspects are also assessed.

Conclusion: CNT-based high-performing wearable supercapacitors were successfully fabricated. The flexibility of designed CNT-based energy storage devices makes them suitable for a variety of applications. In addition, they can be connected in series and parallel as per the application requirement rendering them scalability advantage for future applications.

Impact Statement: The project will be an asset to the current research on wearable energy storage devices and will pave the way for first responders and other workers to work productively with more safety and ease.