Supramolecular Gel‐Derived Highly Efficient Bifunctional Catalysts for Omnidirectionally Stretchable Zn–Air Batteries with Extreme Environmental Adaptability

Abstract

Abstract Most existing stretchable batteries can generally only be stretched uniaxially and suffer from poor mechanical and electrochemical robustness to withstand extreme mechanical and environmental challenges. A highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst is herein developed via the unique self‐templated conversion of a guanosine‐based supramolecular hydrogel and presents a fully integrated design strategy to successfully fabricate an omnidirectionally stretchable and extremely environment‐adaptable Zn–air battery (ZAB) through the synergistic engineering of active materials and device architecture. The electrocatalyst demonstrates a very low reversible overpotential of only 0.68 V for oxygen reduction/evolution reactions (ORR/OER). This ZAB exhibits superior omnidirectional stretchability with a full‐cell areal strain of >1000% and excellent durability, withstanding more than 10 000 stretching cycles. Promisingly, without any additional pre‐treatment, the ZAB exhibits outstanding ultra‐low temperature tolerance (down to −60 °C) and superior waterproofness, withstanding continuous water rinsing (>5 h) and immersion (>3 h). The present work offers a promising strategy for the design of omnidirectionally stretchable and high‐performance energy storage devices for future on‐skin wearable applications.

Keywords

• mechanical and environmental adaptability
• omnidirectionally stretchable battery
• ultra‐low temperature tolerance
• waterproofness