Rapid microwave etching of carbon cloth to form porous flexible zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitor electrodes

It has been a research hotspot to develop flexible cathode for zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors. Here, a simple and fast way of surface modification of carbon cloth (CC) is proposed. The surface-modified carbon cloth (MCC) was obtained by a few minutes of simple treatment using a microwave oven. The MCC had a porous structure and was assembled with zinc sheets to form ZHSCs with an excellent surface capacity of 0.82 mAh cm-2 and outstanding rate performance. Moreover, a capacity retention of 90.15% was demonstrated by the ZHSCs following 15,000 cycles at a current density of 20 mA cm-2. This outcome offers a straightforward and cost-effective approach for the fabrication of flexible electrodes.