Advances in textile-based supercapacitors: Materials, design, and performance for wearable electronics

Textile-based supercapacitors (TSCs) have emerged as promising energy storage systems for wearable and flexible electronics due to their lightweight nature, mechanical flexibility, and compatibility with textile architectures. This review provides a comprehensive and critical analysis of recent advances in TSCs, with a particular focus on the relationship between material selection, structural design, and electrochemical performance. Key electrode systems, including carbon nanomaterials, conducting polymers, MXenes, metal oxides, and conductive-ink-enabled architectures, are systematically evaluated with respect to conductivity, capacitance, mechanical durability, and scalability. Fabrication strategies such as coating, printing, layer-by-layer assembly, and fibre-level integration (weaving and knitting) are critically discussed with respect to their influence on device stability and large-scale manufacturability. In addition, electrochemical characterization techniques, including cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge, and impedance spectroscopy, are analysed in the context of performance evaluation and failure mechanisms. Importantly, this review highlights challenges unique to TSCs, including trade-offs among flexibility, conductivity, interfacial adhesion, washability, and mechanical stability. Emerging approaches, such as hybrid material systems, breathable encapsulation, and integrated energy-harvesting–storage platforms, are critically assessed. Finally, future research directions are proposed toward standardised testing, scalable fabrication, and multifunctional textile systems to enable the transition of TSCs from laboratory-scale prototypes to practical wearable applications.