Energy storing bricks for stationary PEDOT supercapacitors.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32782258.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-17708-1 and PMC identifier 7419536.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Fired brick is a universal building material, produced by thousand-year-old technology, that throughout history has seldom served any other purpose. Here, we develop a scalable, cost-effective and versatile chemical synthesis using a fired brick to control oxidative radical polymerization and deposition of a nanofibrillar coating of the conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT). A fired brick's open microstructure, mechanical robustness and ~8 wt% α-Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> content afford an ideal substrate for developing electrochemical PEDOT electrodes and stationary supercapacitors that readily stack into modules. Five-minute epoxy serves as a waterproof case enabling the operation of our supercapacitors while submerged underwater and a gel electrolyte extends cycling stability to 10,000 cycles with ~90% capacitance retention.