Chemically Crosslinked Hydrogel Film Leads to Integrated Flexible Supercapacitors with Superior Performance

Abstract

A high-strength poly(vinyl alcohol) chemical hydrogel (PCH) film is prepared by coupling covalent crosslinking with a film-casting process. Conducting polyaniline (PANI) is then embedded in the PCH film by in situ growth to form a composite film with a PANI–hydrogel–PANI configuration, which leads to a new conceptual flexible supercapacitor with all-in-one configuration that exhibits superior electrochemical performance and mechanical flexibility.