Solar-Powered Supercapacitors Integrated with a Shared Electrode

A solar-powered integrated supercapacitor (SPIS) with an inverted organic solar cell (iOSC) as the energy conversion unit and a supercapacitor (SC) as the energy-storage unit is a workable combination that yields a highly effective self-powered pack. However, the current designs of these elements are cumbersome and entail multistep fabrication─two major application disadvantages. Herein, we report on a compact SPIS in series with a three-electrode configuration that uses modified graphene oxide-incorporated poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) as the common electrode, which is particularly important to integrate the iOSC with the SC and simultaneously play a role in the charge collection, transfer, and storage. The SPIS is successfully constructed through a solution process under mild conditions. Under 1-sun illumination, the iOSC features a weight-specific power density as high as 6.46 W g–1, enabling the SC to be fully charged by the iOSC within 33 s to create a fusion SPIS able to reach ∼0.6 V. The as-developed SPIS has a thickness of only ∼2.6 μm, and the substrate is a high-performance candidate for portable and wearable electronic devices in the future.