Piezoionic Interface Engineering Enabled High Energy Density and Suppressed Self‐Discharge in Flexible Supercapacitors
ABSTRACT Self‐discharge remains a persistent challenge in electrochemical energy storage, especially in interface‐dominated flexible supercapacitors, where suppressing charge loss often compromises ion transport and energy density. Here, we report a piezoionic interface engineering strategy that uses mechanical pressure as an active variable to regulate interfacial ion transport and charge relaxation. Guided by the Hofmeister effect, a PVA‐based hydrogel electrolyte with tunable piezoionic behavior is developed to generate pressure‐induced ionic polarization. Upon compression, improved interfacial conformality drives ions into deeper micropores and promotes the formation of a more compact electric double layer, thereby enhancing capacitance. Meanwhile, the induced polarization field stabilizes interfacial charge distribution and suppresses ion desorption, leading to slower self‐discharge. As a result, the flexible supercapacitor achieves an energy density of 112.4 µWh cm −2 at 100 µW cm −2 under 100 kPa and retains 90.1% of its stored energy after 1 h of open‐circuit rest, representing a 3.2‐fold improvement over the unpressurized state. As a proof of concept, the flexible supercapacitor powers a wireless wearable insole system. This work provides a pressure‐regulated interfacial design paradigm for simultaneously enhancing energy density and charge retention in flexible supercapacitors.
Authors
- Jianmin Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0999-9194)
- Lijia Pan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8917-7843)
- Xidi Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0211-6555)
- Yuqiong Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8197-4151)
- Wen Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0689-1695)
- Lulu Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7790-090X)
- Y Shi
- Yukai Zhou
- X S Guo
- Y Jiang
Institutions
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2026-06-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.74182
- Primary Topic
- Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China