Facile fabrication of double-layered electrodes for a self-powered energy conversion and storage system

Abstract

An aluminum double-layered electrode (DE-Al) was successfully employed as two electrodes in a symmetrical supercapacitor (double-layered electrode symmetric SC (DE-SC)) and as a positive layer of a triboelectric nanogenerator (DE-TENG) with the aim of energy conversion and storage using a selfsame structured, self-powered flexible device. A facile water-assisted oxidation (WAO) process and metal sputtering after the WAO process can allow the electrodes to greatly improve the active surface area and the conductivity, leading to the enhancement of the electrochemical performances of a supercapacitor (SC). Particularly, this double-layered structure fabrication process is extremely less time-consuming and cost-effective. The electrochemical test of the proposed DE-Al was systematically conducted by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), along with the in-depth characterizations of the surface. From these studies, the DE-Al offers exceptional electrochemical properties compared with other structures, which were utilized as the electrodes in the polyvinyl alcohol/phosphoric acid (PVA/H3PO4) gel electrolyte. The improved performance apparently evidenced from the electrochemical tests of fabricated SC resulted from the enhanced electrical conductivity and large active surface area. The specific capacitance and cycle-life stability of the DE-SC were investigated by using a GCD analysis. Additionally, the EIS curves before and after stability test (for 3500 cycles) were obtained to prove the long-term endurance of DE-SC. A vertical contact and the separation mode of the TENG were also fabricated by using the same DE-Al as a positive layer and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a negative layer. Finally, the fabricated SC and TENG were successfully combined using a bridge rectifier to convert and store the mechanical energy as electrical energy. This simple design and facile fabrication of a double-layered-electrode-based structure is promising for the development of an energy conversion and storage device.