Textile Composite Electrodes for Flexible Batteries and Supercapacitors: Opportunities and Challenges

The ever-growing demand for portable and wearable electronics has driven increased interest in flexible lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and supercapacitors (SCs). However, endowing conventional LIBs and SCs with good flexibility and high energy density is challenging, as metal foils and rigid electrodes are easily fractured during flexing. In recent years, textile composite electrodes (TCEs), electrodes coated onto or grown on conductive textile current collectors have shown great promise for application in flexible, high-capacity/capacitance, and long-cycle-life textile-based electrochemical energy storage devices (TEESDs). This Essay summarizes the advantages of TCEs compared to conventional metal-foil-supported electrodes (MFEs) and discusses the integration of TCEs into TEESDs as flexible LIBs and SCs for wearable applications. Finally, the challenges associated with TCEs and TEESDs are discussed alongside an analysis of possible solutions.