Super flexible electrospun carbon/nickel nanofibrous film electrode for supercapacitors

High-performance portable energy conversion and storage devices are becoming increasingly important. To meet the demand, economically applicable super-flexible film electrodes are urgently needed. Herein, we present a super-flexible electrospun carbon/nickel nanofibrous film electrode capable of being face to face folded repeatedly. It is demonstrated that the super flexibility comes from a combination of four characteristics including low-nanoscale Ni nanoparticles, large amounts of Ni nanoparticles uniformly distributed, ultrahigh mesopore-type specific surface area and low crystallinity degree of carbon matrix. Low calcination temperature is found to be one of the keys to simultaneously acquiring these characteristics. The work not only points out some helpful structural characteristics for achieving super flexibility, but also paves the way to realize super flexible fully active film electrodes. [Display omitted] •Superior flexibility capable of being face to face folded repeatedly is achieved.•Low calcination temperature is found to be the key to achieve superior flexibility.•Four structural characteristics is proposed for superior flexibility.•Super-flexible carbon/nickel electrospun film with high capacitance is fabricated.