Wirelessly Rechargeable Printed Solid-State Supercapacitors for Continuous Operation of Smart Contact Lenses

Abstract

Recent advances in smart contact lenses are essential to the realization of medical applications and vision imaging for augmented reality through wireless communication systems. However, previous research on smart contact lens has been driven by external electrical wired systems or wireless power transfer with temporal and spatial restrictions, which can limit their continuous use. Therefore, an essential prerequisite for electronic smart contact lenses is their monolithic integration with energy storage devices. However, conventional rigid, large sized, and fixed-shaped energy storage devices are not suitable for the soft, smart contact lens. Here, we demonstrate a new class of wirelessly-rechargeable solid-state supercapacitors directly printed on smart contact lenses. Supercapacitors are known to exhibit long cycle lives and high-power density, which are suitable for consistent fast wireless charging and discharging for operating the electronic devices in the smart contact lens. The arc-shaped form factor and limited area of the printed supercapacitor require a high-precision microscale direct ink writing (DIW) process and tailored component inks. The printed solid-state supercapacitor integrated smart contact lens show great potential as an effective/scalable platform for wearable electronics with continuous operation.