3D printing assisted uniformly coated textile for achieving fully flexible supercapacitors with enhanced performance

Journal article, 2026

Wearable energy storage devices (ESDs), like batteries, supercapacitors, and hybrids, are currently being explored as possible energy storage solutions for flexible electronics. Textile-based composites show significant potential as electrode materials for ESDs that may lead to the development of smart clothing. However, current methods employed for the deposition of active materials onto textiles show substantial inconsistency, leading to varying electrochemical performance in ESDs, thereby limiting their applicability. Addressing this challenge by achieving uniformity in thin coatings is key to improving the reliability and efficiency of ESDs. This study introduces an innovative method for fabricating fully flexible supercapacitors (SCs) with enhanced performance by utilizing 3D-printed frames to produce wrinkle-free, uniformly coated textile electrodes through a modified hydrothermal dip-coating technique. The approach adopted in this study ensures a uniform coating of the electrode, as revealed by FESEM. XRD study confirms that the layer structure of the electrode materials provides a maximum active surface area for electrochemical performance. Rheological analysis informed that moderate shear rates in the viscosity function reveal an apparent transition to a local shear thickening behaviour. Electrochemical characterization of the fabricated fully flexible SCs reveal impressive metrics, including a specific capacitance (Cs) of 20.39 Fg- 1, an energy density (Ed) of 2.54 Wh kg- 1, and a power density (Pd) of 160 W kg- 1. These SCs demonstrate better stability under mechanical deformation, maintaining 91% Coulombic efficiency even when twisted to 180 degrees. SC can retained Cs up to 95%, 84%, 91.7%, 88%, and 94%, stability after 5000 cycles under various conditions such as no-load, twisting, bending, folding, and washing, respectively. 3D printingassisted coating method paves the way for creating high-performance, fully flexible SCs.