4D Printing of Stretchable Supercapacitors via Hybrid Composite Materials

Abstract

batteries capable of over 300% deformation have been developed with novel strategies such as self-similar serpentine interconnects [6] and origami of thin sheets. [7] In comparison with batteries, supercapacitors (SCs) have advantages of fast charge/discharge rate and long operating life, representing a promising candidate for energy-storage devices used in unconventional electronics. Existing stretchable SCs that use films or meshes of carbon nanotube (CNT) or graphene as electrodes [8] typically reach a stretchability of up to 30% to 300%. With ultra-stretchable gel electrolyte used, some SCs with CNT electrodes reported a stretchability of up to 1000%. [9] However, the fabrication of such stretchable SCs usually relies on the transfer of active material layers onto target substrates, which is a complicated, troublesome, time-consuming, and expensive process. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore new strategies and seamless integration of the latest advances in materials and manufacturing to make stretchable and high-performance SCs. Printing techniques offer a promising solution to the scalable manufacturing of stretchable SCs. Over the past decade, printed electronics have attracted increasing attention for the fabrication of novel electronics, such as thinfilm transistors (TFTs), sensors, and energy storage devices, [1-4] owing to the unique advantages of low-cost, high-throughput, and ability for mass production. In particular, inkjet printing has many advantages, such as low-cost, direct writing, additive patterning, and scalable production, when applied to the Stretchable supercapacitors (SCs) have attracted significant attention in developing power-independent stretchable electronic systems due to their intrinsic energy storage function and unique mechanical properties. Most current SCs are generally limited by their low stretchability, complicated fabrication process, and insufficient performance and robustness. This study presents a facile method to fabricate arbitrary-shaped stretchable electrodes via 4D printing of conductive composite from reduced graphene oxide, carbon nanotube, and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate. The electrode patterns of an arbitrary shape can be deposited onto prestretched substrates by aerosol-jet printing, then self-organized origami (ridge) patterns are generated after releasing the substrates from holding stretchers due to the mismatched strains. The stretchable electrodes demonstrate superior mechanical robustness and stretchability without sacrificing its outstanding electrochemical performance. The symmetric SC prototype possesses a gravimetric capacitance of ≈21.7 F g −1 at a current density of 0.5 A g −1 and a capacitance retention of ≈85.8% from 0.5 to 5 A g −1. A SC array with arbitraryshaped electrodes is also fabricated and connected in series to power lightemitting diode patterns for large-scale applications. The proposed method paves avenues for scalable manufacturing of future energy-storage devices with controlled extensibility an...

Performance of PEDOTOH/PEO‐based Supercapacitors in Agarose Gel Electrolyte

“…The specific capacitances calculated from the CV curves are 43.41 F g −1 and 43.98 F g −1 for agarose‐LiClO 4 and agarose‐H 2 SO 4, respectively. This value is higher than several PEDOT‐based SCs, such as PEDOT : PSS coated onto cellulose cloth (8.94 F g −1 ) [23] and printed stretchable GO‐CNT‐PEDOT (21.7 F g −1 ) [24] SCs. Interestingly, at a high scan rate (200 mV s −1 ), the specific capacitance remains intact, achieving 43.37 F g −1 (agarose‐LiClO 4 ) and 44.25 F g −1 (agarose‐H 2 SO 4 ).…”

Additively Manufactured Flexible Electronics with Ultrabroad Range and High Sensitivity for Multiple Physiological Signals’ Detection

“…Many attempts have been made to address this issue; most of them are using liquid metal alloy eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) as the circuit building material [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Flexible electronics can be categorized into three types as their dimensions increase from one-dimensional (1D) to three-dimensional (3D) [14,[23][24][25][26].…”

The Design of 4D‐Printed Hygromorphs: State‐of‐the‐Art and Future Challenges

“…The term “4D printing” sometimes refers to other functionalities, for instance, energy storage [ 2 ] or color‐changing. [ 3 ] The study focuses exclusively on coupled geometric/physical/mechanical deformations with composite materials triggered by humidity (also called “hygromorphs”) at macroscale.…”