Aluminum‐Ion‐Intercalation Supercapacitors with Ultrahigh Areal Capacitance and Highly Enhanced Cycling Stability: Power Supply for Flexible Electrochromic Devices

Abstract

Electrochemical capacitor systems based on Al ions can offer the possibilities of low cost and high safety, together with a three-electron redox-mechanism-based high capacity, and thus are expected to provide a feasible solution to meet ever-increasing energy demands. Here, highly efficient Al-ion intercalation into W₁₈ O₄₉ nanowires (W₁₈ O₄₉ NWs) with wide lattice spacing and layered single-crystal structure for electrochemical storage is demonstrated. Moreover, a freestanding composite film with a hierarchical porous structure is prepared through vacuum-assisted filtration of a mixed dispersion containing W₁₈ O₄₉ NWs and single-walled carbon nanotubes. The as-prepared composite electrode exhibits extremely high areal capacitances of 1.11-2.92 F cm^-2 and 459 F cm^-3 at 2 mA cm^-2 , enhanced electrochemical stability in the Al³⁺ electrolyte, as well as excellent mechanical properties. An Al-ion-based, flexible, asymmetric electrochemical capacitor is assembled that displays a high volumetric energy density of 19.0 mWh cm^-3 at a high power density of 295 mW cm^-3 . Finally, the Al-ion-based asymmetric supercapacitor is used as the power source for poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based electrochromic devices, demonstrating their promising capability in flexible electronic devices.