Cotton fabric electrodes coated by polydopamine-reduced graphene oxide and polypyrrole for flexible supercapacitors

Highly conductive reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and pseudo-capacitive polypyrrole (PPy) were integrated together to develop a flexible textile electrode for wearable energy storage. The 2D planar cotton-reduced graphene oxide-polydopamine cotton (C-rGO-PDA-PPy) fabric is obtained by designing the reduced graphene oxide-polydopamine cotton (C-rGO-PDA) fabric as a conductive network and then depositing the electrochemical active material PPy. The C-rGO-PDA-PPy fabric electrodes show a superior areal specific capacitance (6650 mF/cm² at 1 mA/cm²) and outstanding cycling stability. The flexible all-solid-state supercapacitors based on cotton fabric have large areal specific capacitance and excellent cycle stability. Meanwhile the energy density of the device can be as high as 140.44 µWh/cm² when the power density is 0.37 mW/cm². This work provides an easy, economical and environmentally friendly way to turn fabrics into wearable electronic textile devices.