A self-branched lamination of hierarchical patronite nanoarchitectures on carbon fiber cloth as novel electrode for ionic liquid electrolyte-based high energy density supercapacitors

Abstract

The developments of rationally designed binder-free metal chalcogenides decorated flexible electrodes are of paramount importance for advanced energy storage devices. Herein, binder-free patronite (VS4) flower-like nanostructures are facilely fabricated on a carbon cloth (CC) using a facile hydrothermal method for high-performance supercapacitors. The growth density and morphology of VS4 nanostructures on CC are also controlled by varying the concentrations of vanadium and sulfur sources along with the complexing agent in the growth solution. The optimal electrode with an appropriate growth concentration (VS4-CC@VS-3) demonstrates a considerable pseudocapacitance performance in the ionic liquid (IL) electrolyte (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate), with a high operating potential of 2 V. Utilizing VS4-CC@VS-3 as both positive and negative electrodes, the IL-based symmetric supercapacitor is assembled, which demonstrates a high areal capacitance of 536 mF cm-2 (206 F g-1) and excellent cycling durability (93%) with superior energy and power densities of 74.4 µWh cm-2 (28.6 Wh kg-1) and 10154 µW cm-2 (9340 W kg-1), respectively. As for the high energy storage performance, the device stably energizes various portable electronic applications for a long time, which make the fabricated composite material open up news for the fabrication of fabrics supported binder-free chalcogenides for high-performance energy storage devices.