Turning Trash into Treasure: Additive Free MXene Sediment Inks for Screen‐Printed Micro‐Supercapacitors

Abstract

Printed functional conductive inks have triggered scalable production of smart electronics such as energy‐storage devices, antennas, wearable electronics, etc. Of particular interest are highly conductive‐additive‐free inks devoid of costly postdeposition treatments to eliminate sacrificial components. Due to the high filler concentration required, formulation of such waste‐free inks has proven quite challenging. Here, additive‐free, 2D titanium carbide MXene aqueous inks with appropriate rheological properties for scalable screen printing are demonstrated. Importantly, the inks consist essentially of the sediments of unetched precursor and multilayered MXene, which are usually discarded after delamination. Screen‐printed structures are presented on paper with high resolution and spatial uniformity, including micro‐supercapacitors, conductive tracks, integrated circuit paths, and others. It is revealed that the delaminated nanosheets among the layered particles function as efficient conductive binders, maintaining the mechanical integrity and thus the metallic conductive network. The areal capacitance (158 mF cm−2) and energy density (1.64 µWh cm−2) of the printed micro‐supercapacitors are much superior to other devices based on MXene or graphene. The ink formulation strategy of “turning trash into treasure” for screen printing highlights the potential of waste‐free MXene sediment printing for scalable and sustainable production of next‐generation wearable smart electronics.

3D Printing of NiCoP/Ti3C2 MXene Architectures for Energy Storage Devices with High Areal and Volumetric Energy Density

“…Gravimetric capacitance (C G ), areal capacitance (C A ), and volumetric capacitance (C V ) of the single printed electrode and the printed ASC devices can be calculated based on the galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD) curves using Eqs. (1), (2), and (3), respectively.…”

“…Utilizing advanced manufacturing technology to achieve tailorable electrode configurations plays a key role in boosting the electrochemical performances of energy storage devices. Along this line, extrusion-based 3D printing, a cost-effective and versatile technique relying on a three-axis motion stage to create well-defined periodic geometries via layer-by-layer stacking, has readily been employed in energy storage realm [1][2][3][4][5]. In contrast to traditional fabrication methods such as doctor blade coating, the thickness of electrodes and loading of active materials can be in target adjusted by the ink property, printing speed, and/or number of printed layers, thereby enhancing both energy density and power density of thus-constructed devices [6][7][8].…”

Recent developments of advanced micro-supercapacitors: design, fabrication and applications

“…Due to the nitrogen doping and crumpled structures enhanced conductivity and redox activity, the MSCs delivered an areal capacitance of 70.1 mF cm −2 and outstanding mechanical robustness. In another case, by making the segments of unelected cursor and multilayered MXene into aqueous inks, Abdolhosseinzadeh et al 41 successfully fabricated a MSC on paper, as shown in Fig. 2d.…”

Recent Advances in High‐Performance Microbatteries: Construction, Application, and Perspective

“…Served as an easy‐processing and cost‐effective way for large‐scale production, screen printing can precisely control the desirable pattern with effectiveness. [ 49 ] After proportionally arranging the electrode materials, conductive agent and binder into a homogeneous slurry, woven meshes are employed to support ink‐blocking stencil for the preparation of expected pattern. Due to the advantage of handy operation, it is easy to increase the operating voltage or the maximum discharge current of microenergy storage devices by means of series or parallel connection.…”