A gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) is
prepared for enhancing electrochemical
performances of supercapacitors (SCs), using a cotton and PVA composite
membrane as the polymer matrix and 1 M H2SO4 solution as the electrolyte. The synthesized cotton/poly(vinyl alcohol)
(PVA)-based membrane with a weight ratio of 8:5 (C
5) shows a high tensile strength of 3.55 MPa and an electrolyte
uptake of 901.45 wt %, and the SC based on the corresponding membrane
(G
5) delivers the best specific capacitance:
it attains 106 F g–1 at 1.0 A g–1 and maintains 106% of the initial capacitance after 10 000
cycles. In addition, three planar SCs in series assembled with G
5 exhibit superb electrochemical performances
and flexibility as G
5 can be bent to 180°
without damage, maintaining superior electrochemical performance.
Therefore, G
5 is a possible candidate
for flexible SCs with outstanding performance.
The sodium super ion conductor (NASICON) structure materials are essential for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to their robust crystal structure, excellent ionic conductivity, and flexibility to regulate element and valence. However, the poor electronic conductivity and inferior energy density caused by the nature of these materials have always been obstacles to commercialization. Herein, using yeast as a template to derive NASICON structure Na 3 MnTi(PO 4 ) 3 (NMTP) materials (noted as Yeast@NMTP/C) is presented. The Yeast@NMTP/C material retains the microsphere morphology of the yeast template and not only controls the particle size (around 2 μm) to shorten the Na + diffusion pathways but also improves the electronic conductivity to optimize the electrochemical kinetics. The Yeast@NMTP/C cathode delivers reversible multielectron redox reactions including Ti 4+/3+ , Mn 3+/2+ , and Mn 4+/3+ and exhibits a high capacity of 108.5 mAh g −1 with a 79.2% capacity retention after 1000 cycles at a 2C rate. The sodium storage mechanism of Yeast@NMTP/C reveals that the addition of Ti 4+/3+ redox plays a key role in improving the Na + diffusion kinetics, and both solid-solution and twophase reactions take place during the desodiation and sodiation process. Additionally, the high-rate and long-span cycle performance of Yeast@NMTP/C at 10C is ascribed to contribute to pseudocapacitance.
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