A Flexible Microsupercapacitor with Integral Photocatalytic Fuel Cell for Self-Charging

With the rapid advancement in different kinds of portable electronics, self-powered systems with small volume and high-performance characteristics have attracted great attention in recent years. It would be rather exciting if one integrated system can not only convert recyclable energy or waste to electricity but also store energy at the same time. Here, flexible all-in-one energy chips composed of urea-based photocatalytic fuel cells (PFCs) and asymmetric microsupercapacitors (AMSCs) are designed on the same plane for powering small portable electronics. The planar PFC consisting of TiO2 photoanode and Ag counter electrode, utilizing urea as fuel, can produce a stable energy output (highest power density of 3.04 μW cm–2 in 1 M urea solution under a UV intensity of 30 mW cm–2) while purify this wasted water simultaneously. Besides, the AMSC comprised of NiCoP@NiOOH positive electrode and zeolite imidazolide framework derived carbon (ZIF-C) negative electrode achieves a high areal capacitance of 54.7 mF cm–2 at 0.5 mA cm–2 and an excellent energy density of 13.9 μWh cm–2 at the power density of 270.5 μW cm–2. Its stability can be confirmed by 86% capacitance retention after 8000 electrochemical cycles and almost no decay after 500 bending cycles. Four PFCs and two AMSCs can be easily constructed into an energy chip and power small electronics. This eco-friendly and self-sustainable system has great potential in future portable electronics.