Printing
technologies that integrate wearable components onto flexible
and stretchable substrates are crucial for the development of miniaturized
wearable electronics. In this study, we developed all-printed paper-based
flexible micro-supercapacitors based on water-based additive-free
oxidized single-walled carbon nanotube pastes. The use of a modified
Brodie’s method with mild oxidants and minimum usage of strong
acids enabled the production of highly conductive and printable oxidized
single-walled carbon nanotube pastes. Pseudo-plastic pastes were obtained
because of the numerous hydrogen bonds between the oxidized single-walled
carbon nanotubes. By photothermal treatment with intense pulsed light
irradiation, a microporous structure was developed in the interdigitated
energy storage electrodes to facilitate the infiltration of electrolytes.
The paper-based flexible micro-supercapacitor exhibited a high energy
density of 0.51 μW h cm–2 at a power density
of 0.59 mW cm–2 and a superior capacity retention
of 85% after 10,000 bending cycles with a bending radius of 3 mm.
The all-printed flexible micro-supercapacitor array with a total capacitance
of 0.1 mF charged to 4.0 V successfully powered a commercial digital
clock for approximately 40 s. The micro-supercapacitor array operated
properly under both tensile and compressive strains. These results
demonstrate that the water-based additive-free oxidized single-walled
carbon nanotube pastes are promising printable materials for the construction
of flexible micro-supercapacitors.
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