Investigation of charge contribution in Cu2O/Graphene/PEDOT: PSS electrode based 3D-Shaped electrochemical capacitors and development of structural energy storage
Active electrode materials shaped in 3D structures play a crucial role in advancing structural energy storage technologies. We fabricated a 3D-shaped flexible electrochemical capacitor (3D-FEC) utilizing Cu2O/Graphene/PEDOT: PSS/Polyurethane foam, enhancing its suitability for structural energy storage. We examined the charge contribution of 2 and 3-electrode configurations during the reaction of these electrodes with NaCl to enhance the energy storage capability. The results showed similar outcomes between both electrode configurations, demonstrating a total charge contribution of 3.4 mC cm−3 at the scan rate of 5 mV s−1 comprising 91.52 % diffusive charge and 8.47 % capacitive charge. We observed a significantly higher diffusive charge contribution at lower scan rates compared to the capacitive charge contribution. The specific capacitance of the 3D-FEC measured from galvanostatic charging discharge analysis is 1.09 F cm−3 (1.17 F g−1) at 0.25 mA cm−2 with energy and power densities calculated at 0.25 mA cm−2 was 94.15 μW h cm−3 (0.102 Wh kg−1) and 0.985 mW cm−3 (1.06 W kg−1) respectively. The influence of external forces in the range of 0.4 N–1.3 N on the top of 3D-FEC leads to negligible variation in performance and it shows its potential application in structural devices. To implement a structural capacitor, several 3D-FECs were affixed to a cloth and combined with a solar cell, forming an energy mat
