A safeguarding and high temperature tolerant organogel electrolyte for flexible solid-state supercapacitors

An organogel electrolyte with anti-impact and high-temperature tolerance properties is developed by dissolving poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in ethylene glycol (EG) and mixing with shear thickening fluid (STF) to fabricate STF reinforced supercapacitor (SSC). Because of the hydrogen bond between EG and PVA and the thermodynamic stability of EG, SSC possesses good environmental stability and can withstand a high temperature of 80 degrees C with a high potential window of 1.7 V. The capacitance of SSC also increases by 90% due to the better ionic conductivity of the organogel at 80 degrees C. More importantly, the as-designed SSC can dissipate and reduce hammer impact force from 570 N to 81 N, showing an outstanding anti-impact property. This super safeguarding property results from the synergistic effect of shear thickening (ST) effect of STF, SiO2 fillers, and hydrogen bonds in the matrix. Finally, a three SSCs-based series wearable wristband maintains 95% of capacitance from harsh impact and can protect human beings. Thus, this work opens a new avenue for the development of functional SSC as new power source in wearable electronics and safeguard areas.