MnO2 Nanoparticles Decorated PEDOT:PSS for High Performance Stretchable and Transparent Supercapacitors

Abstract

With the swift advancement of wearable electronics and artificial intelligence, the integration of electronic devices with the human body has advanced significantly, leading to enhanced real-time health monitoring and remote disease diagnosis. Despite progress in developing stretchable materials with skin-like mechanical properties, there remains a need for materials that also exhibit high optical transparency. Supercapacitors, as promising energy storage devices, offer advantages such as portability, long cycle life, and rapid charge/discharge rates, but achieving high capacity, stretchability, and transparency simultaneously remains challenging. This study combines the stretchable, transparent polymer PEDOT:PSS with MnO2 nanoparticles to develop high-performance, stretchable, and transparent supercapacitors. PEDOT:PSS films were deposited on a PDMS substrate using a spin-coating method, followed by electrochemical deposition of MnO2 nanoparticles. This method ensured that the nanosized MnO2 particles were uniformly distributed, maintaining the transparency and stretchability of PEDOT:PSS. The resulting PEDOT:PSS/MnO2 nanoparticle electrodes were gathered into a symmetric device using a LiCl/PVA gel electrolyte, achieving an areal capacitance of 1.14 mF cm−2 at 71.2% transparency and maintaining 89.92% capacitance after 5000 cycles of 20% strain. This work presents a scalable and economical technique to manufacturing supercapacitors that combine high capacity, transparency, and mechanical stretchability, suggesting potential applications in wearable electronics.