Sulfur and nitrogen co-doped holey graphene aerogel for structurally resilient solid-state supercapacitors under high compressions

Abstract

Structural energy storage devices having load-bearing or stress-tolerant functionalities are crucial for designing wearable and soft electronics. In order to supply power to next-generation electronic systems, structurally resilient solid-state supercapacitors (SRSSs) with sustainable conductivities and electrochemical performances under large compressions are a promising candidate. Here, we report a synthetic porous framework of a nitrogen and sulfur co-doped holey graphene aerogel (NS-HGA) for SRSSs under high compression loadings. Such a covalently interconnected holey graphene nano-architecture co-doped with nitrogen (3.11%) and sulfur (1.87%) has a greatly improved resilient structural integrity, with repeatable elasticity along with high compressive strength. Therefore, the NS-HGA featuring high electrolyte ion storage, unhindered ion channels, excellent conductivity (21.66 S m⁻¹), and promising electrochemical performances exhibits significantly high volumetric capacitance (203 mF cm⁻³) in a SRSS with good rate capability and almost unaltered capacitance even at 50% compression, with good durability for 200 cycles. Interestingly, when four NS-HGA:SRSSs were integrated into series, a bright green LED was illuminated even after charging for very few seconds. The proposed dual heteroatom-doped holey graphene aerogel, devoid of any pseudocapacitive materials, can be successfully used for high compression-permissive SRSSs in the modern era of wearable and soft elastic electronics.