Scalable Micro-fabrication of Flexible, Solid-State, Inexpensive, and High-Performance Planar Micro-supercapacitors through Inkjet Printing

Abstract

Inkjet printing is becoming one of the most efficient micro-manufacturing techniques to fabricate thin-film devices for flexible electronics applications. The energy storage unit is one of the most critical parts of the electronic devices, and planar micro-supercapacitors (PμSCs) are the emerging energy storage architecture in miniaturized electronic devices. However, the lack of high-performance energy storage units with the required flexibility, the selection of cost-effective processes, scalability issues related to inexpensive, high-volume manufacturing, and proper design of the device structure are still some of the major challenges for the development of flexible supercapacitors (SCs). To address these issues, we have fabricated fully printed, solid-state, and flexible PμSCs on cellulose paper substrates. The digitally designed interdigitated electrode patterns are first printed on paper with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) ink to construct a conducting matrix. The negative electrode is printed using a...