A thin film flexible supercapacitor based on oblique angle deposited Ni/NiO nanowire arrays

Abstract

With high power density, fast charging-discharging speed, and a long cycling life, supercapacitors are a kind of highly developed novel energy-storage device that has shown a growing performance and various unconventional shapes such as flexible, linear-type, stretchable, self-healing, etc. Here, we proposed a rational design of thin film, flexible micro-supercapacitors with in-plane interdigital electrodes, where the electrodes were fabricated using the oblique angle deposition technique to grow oblique Ni/NiO nanowire arrays directly on polyimide film. The obtained electrodes have a high specific surface area and good adhesion to the substrate compared with other in-plane micro-supercapacitors. Meanwhile, the as-fabricated micro-supercapacitors have good flexibility and satisfactory energy-storage performance, exhibiting a high specific capacity of 37.1 F/cm3, a high energy density of 5.14 mWh/cm3, a power density of up to 0.5 W/cm3, and good stability during charge-discharge cycles and repeated bending-recovery cycles, respectively. Our micro-supercapacitors can be used as ingenious energy storage devices for future portable and wearable electronic applications.