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Flexible, yet robust polyaniline coated foamed polylactic acid composite electrodes for high-performance supercapacitors

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Abstract

Polylactic acid (PLA) has promising potentials for transient electronic applications due to its biodegradability and biocompatibility, which is expected to help alleviate electronic waste disposal problems. Recently, PLA has been used as the polymer substrate to fabricate green and flexible supercapacitors (SCs). However, the intrinsic fracture textile and limited electroactive materials deposited on the PLA substrate resulting in poor energy storage performance still remain challenging. Herein, a facile approach has been proposed to prepare flexible, yet robust electrodes of polyaniline coated on foamed PLA (PANI-fo-PLA). Aniline monomers were directly polymerized on the porous foamed PLA (fo-PLA) which was prepared via a simple nonsolvent-induced-phase-separation (NIPS) method. The fo-PLA endows the PANI-fo-PLA electrode with superior flexibility (a fracture strain of 34.70%) and high mechanical strength (a fracture strength of 77.80 MPa) which are significantly higher than those values of solvent-cast PLA films; meanwhile, the porous structure provides rich sites for the growth of PANI, which thus significantly increases the loadings of electroactive materials, and facilitates the ion transportation during the energy storage process. Employing PVA/H2SO4 as the gel electrolyte, the symmetric PANI-fo-PLA//PANI-fo-PLA SC delivers a high areal capacitance of 27.73 mF cm−2 (@0.05 mA cm−2), which is more than one hundred times higher than that of the SC based on electrodes of PANI grown on non-porous PLA film. The SC retains 66.29% of its original capacitance even bent at 90°, demonstrating its great potentials for flexible wearable electronics. Moreover, the PANI-PLA can be readily degraded in alkaline solutions within 2 h under sonication. This work paves the way to fabricate flexible, transient, and high performance energy storage devices from PLA.

Graphical abstract

A flexible, robust, and degradable PANI-fo-PLA electrode with high electrochemical energy storage performance has been prepared via a both time- and energy- saving approach.

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Funding

This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51703162). Dr. Huige Wei also expresses her thanks to Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by Tianjin (TJSQNTJ-2018–03). The authors also acknowledge the financial support of Taif University Researchers Supporting Project number (TURSP-2020/05), Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Brine Chemical Engineering and Resource Eco-Utilization, College of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China

    Guixing Li, Xiangnan Lei, Zifang Peng, Tong Wan & Huige Wei

  2. GRINM Group Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100088, China

    Lin Wang

  3. Advanced Materials Division, Engineered Multifunctional Composites (EMC) Nanotech LLC, Knoxville, TN, 37934, USA

    Srihari Maganti & Vignesh Murugadoss

  4. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Mina Huang

  5. Mechanical Engineering, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, 72467, USA

    Ilwoo Seok

  6. Department of Chemistry and Physics, University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, AR, 71601, USA

    Qinglong Jiang

  7. College of Light Industry Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China

    Dapeng Cui

  8. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Taif University, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia

    A. Alhadhrami & Mohamed M. Ibrahim

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  1. Guixing Li
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  2. Lin Wang
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  3. Xiangnan Lei
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Guixing Li and Lin Wang contributed equally to this paper.

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Li, G., Wang, L., Lei, X. et al. Flexible, yet robust polyaniline coated foamed polylactic acid composite electrodes for high-performance supercapacitors. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 5, 853–863 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-022-00501-7

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