We reported the synthesis of large-area manganese oxide nanorods (MONRAs) on carbon fabric and their implementation as flexible supercapacitors. Electrochemical measurements demonstrated that MONRAs exhibited a high capacitance (678 F g(-1) at a current density of 0.3 A g(-1)) with high flexibility and excellent cycle performance (less than 3% capacitance loss after 10,000 cycles). Furthermore, the fabricated solid-state devices based on these MONRAs electrodes exhibited good electrochemical performance and could power a red LED well for about 5 mm after charging at 0.5 mA cm(-2) for 30 s, with an energy utilization efficiency of about 80%. These findings show that MONRAs are a kind of very promising electrode material for flexible supercapacitors. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.