Self-chargeable supercapacitor made with MXene-bacterial cellulose nanofiber composite for wearable devices

The development of wearable electronics is restricted by the developments of supporting energy storage devices, especially flexible supercapacitors. Nowadays, miniaturized supercapacitors based on MXenes due to their obvious advantages in the specific capacity have received extensive attention. The energy existing in the surrounding environment has been used to directly charge energy storage devices. However, the hybrid wearable electronics integrated supercapacitors are mechanically connected through metal wires leading to non-compact devices. Thus, it is urgent to develop a general and universal method to fabricate high-performance robust MXene-based flexible electrodes with high electrical conductivity and apply them to self-chargeable supercapacitors and compact wearable devices. Herein, the bacterial cellulose (BC) nanofibers are used as a crosslinking agent to connect two-dimensional MXene nanosheets through the hydrogen bond, which greatly improves the mechanical strength of MXene-bacterial cellulose (MXene-BC) composite films (Young's modulus reaching 6.8 GPa). The supercapacitors made with the electrodes of MXene-BC composite films (BC content is 10%) present high capacitance behavior (areal capacitance up to 346 mF cm−2) because the introduction of BC nanofibers increases the interlayer spacing of MXene nanosheets, providing more storage space for the ions in the electrolyte. Then, a self-chargeable supercapacitor is proposed based on the combination of a zinc-air (Zn-air) battery and a supercapacitor. The self-chargeable supercapacitor can realize self-charging after dropping a drop of electrolyte solution into the Zn-air battery. The charging voltage of a single self-chargeable supercapacitor can reach 0.6 V after adding artificial sweat as the electrolyte. Finally, a smart wristband with the function of self-charging is proposed, which can absorb the sweat generated by the human for self-chargeable supercapacitors to drive the pedometer integrated within the smart wristband to work. The proposed self-chargeable supercapacitors are simple and effective, not restricted by the use environment, providing a promising way for self-powered wearable electronics.