Researchers develop stretchable wire-shaped supercapacitor

Advances in flexible and stretchable electronics have prompted researchers to explore ways to create stretchable supercapacitors—robust energy storage devices—to power these and other devices.

Supercapacitors offer significant advantages over common batteries, including the ability to recharge in seconds, exceptionally long life span and high reliability, leading to their incorporation in portable consumer electronics, memory backup devices, hybrid vehicles and even large industrial scale power and energy management systems.

Wire-shaped supercapacitors, in particular, have attracted attention for uses in wearable energy devices.

University of Delaware professors Tsu-Wei Chou and Bingqing Wei have successfully developed a compact, stretchable wire-shaped supercapacitor (WSS) based on continuous carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers.