Skip to main content
Log in

3D printing of high-performance micro-supercapacitors with patterned exfoliated graphene/carbon nanotube/silver nanowire electrodes

  • Article
  • Published:
Science China Technological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) show great potential as on-chip energy storage devices for portable electronics. The major flaw of thin-film MSCs is their low energy density. To improve the energy density, thicker electrodes are required. However, the fabrication of MSCs with thick electrodes remains a challenge. In this work, a novel 3D printing method is employed to fabricate high-performance MSCs with interdigitated exfoliated graphene (EG)/carbon nanotube (CNT)/silver nanowire (AgNW) electrodes. The nanowelding of AgNW junction plays a critical role in the realization of 3D printing. To enhance the electrochemical performances of EG, phosphorus atoms are incorporated into the carbon framework with 1.7 at%. The areal capacitance of the 3D printed MSC is 21.6 mF cm−2 at a scan rate of 0.01 Vs−1. The areal energy density of the MSC ranges from 0.5 to 2 µWh cm−2 with a maximum power density of 2.5 mW cm−2.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bao Z, Chen X. Flexible and stretchable devices. Adv Mater, 2016, 28: 4177–4179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zeng W, Shu L, Li Q, et al. Fiber-based wearable electronics: A review of materials, fabrication, devices, and applications. Adv Mater, 2014, 26: 5310–5336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Choi S, Lee H, Ghaffari R, et al. Recent advances in flexible and stretchable bio-electronic devices integrated with nanomaterials. Adv Mater, 2016, 28: 4203–4218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Simon P, Gogotsi Y. Materials for electrochemical capacitors. Nat Mater, 2008, 7: 845–854

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Winter M, Brodd R J. What are batteries, fuel cells, and super-capacitors? Chem Rev, 2004, 104: 4245–4270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. In H J, Kumar S, Shao-Horn Y, et al. Origami fabrication of nanostructured, three-dimensional devices: Electrochemical capacitors with carbon electrodes. Appl Phys Lett, 2006, 88: 083104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kyeremateng N A, Brousse T, Pech D. Microsupercapacitors as miniaturized energy-storage components for on-chip electronics. Nat Nanotech, 2017, 12: 7–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Tyagi A, Tripathi K M, Gupta R K. Recent progress in micro-scale energy storage devices and future aspects. J Mater Chem A, 2015, 3: 22507–22541

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Beidaghi M, Gogotsi Y. Capacitive energy storage in micro-scale devices: Recent advances in design and fabrication of micro-super-capacitors. Energy Environ Sci, 2014, 7: 867–884

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Hyun W J, Secor E B, Kim C H, et al. Scalable, self-aligned printing of flexible graphene micro-supercapacitors. Adv Energy Mater, 2017, 7: 1700285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Guo B, Liu Q, Chen E, et al. Controllable N-doping of graphene. Nano Lett, 2010, 10: 4975–4980

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Wei D, Liu Y, Wang Y, et al. Synthesis of N-doped graphene by chemical vapor deposition and its electrical properties. Nano Lett, 2009, 9: 1752–1758

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Wen Y, Wang B, Huang C, et al. Synthesis of phosphorus-doped graphene and its wide potential window in aqueous supercapacitors. Chem Eur J, 2015, 21: 80–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Yang D S, Bhattacharjya D, Inamdar S, et al. Phosphorus-doped ordered mesoporous carbons with different lengths as efficient metal-free electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media. J Am Chem Soc, 2012, 134: 16127–16130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Zhang C, Mahmood N, Yin H, et al. Synthesis of phosphorus-doped graphene and its multifunctional applications for oxygen reduction reaction and lithium ion batteries. Adv Mater, 2013, 25: 4932–4937

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Zhu C, Liu T, Qian F, et al. 3D printed functional nanomaterials for electrochemical energy storage. Nano Today, 2017, 15: 107–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Ambrosi A, Pumera M. 3D-printing technologies for electrochemical applications. Chem Soc Rev, 2016, 45: 2740–2755

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Li H Y, Liu L, Zhang Z W, et al. Phytic acid-assisted electro-chemically synthesized three-dimensional O, P-functionalized graphene monoliths with high capacitive performance. Nanoscale, 2017, 9: 12601–12608

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Liu L, Li H Y, Ye D, et al. Nanowelding and patterning of silver nanowires via mask-free atmospheric cold plasma-jet scanning. Nanotechnology, 2017, 28: 225301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Xu H, Shi Z X, Tong Y X, et al. Porous microrod arrays constructed by carbon-confined NiCo@NiCoO2 core@shell nanoparticles as efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution. Adv Mater, 2018, 30: 1705442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Feng J X, Tong S Y, Tong Y X, et al. Pt-like hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis on PANI/CoP hybrid nanowires by weakening the shackles of hydrogen ions on the surfaces of catalysts. J Am Chem Soc, 2018, 140: 5118–5126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Ye S H, Shi Z X, Feng J X, et al. Activating CoOOH porous nanosheet arrays by partial iron substitution for efficient oxygen evolution reaction. Angew Chem Int Ed, 2018, 57: 2672–2676

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Liu L, Ye D, Yu Y, et al. Carbon-based flexible micro-supercapacitor fabrication via mask-free ambient micro-plasma-jet etching. Carbon, 2017, 111: 121–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Liu L, Li H Y, Yu Y, et al. Silver nanowires as the current collector for a flexible in-plane micro-supercapacitor via a one-step, mask-free patterning strategy. Nanotechnology, 2018, 29: 055401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Tian S, Yang S, Huang T, et al. One-step fast electrochemical fabrication of water-dispersible graphene. Carbon, 2017, 111: 617–621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Li R, Wei Z, Gou X, et al. Phosphorus-doped graphene nanosheets as efficient metal-free oxygen reduction electrocatalysts. RSC Adv, 2013, 3: 9978–9984

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Naidis G V. Modelling of plasma bullet propagation along a helium jet in ambient air. J Phys D-Appl Phys, 2011, 44: 215203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Mericam-Bourdet N, Laroussi M, Begum A, et al. Experimental investigations of plasma bullets. J Phys D-Appl Phys, 2009, 42: 055207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Pech D, Brunet M, Taberna P L, et al. Elaboration of a microstructured inkjet-printed carbon electrochemical capacitor. J Power Sources, 2010, 195: 1266–1269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Peng Z, Ye R, Mann J A, et al. Flexible boron-doped laser-induced graphene microsupercapacitors. ACS Nano, 2015, 9: 5868–5875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Wu Z K, Lin Z, Li L, et al. Flexible micro-supercapacitor based on insitu assembled graphene on metal template at room temperature. Nano Energy, 2014, 10: 222–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Kötz R, Carlen M. Principles and applications of electrochemical capacitors. Electrochim Acta, 2000, 45: 2483–2498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Yun J, Kim D, Lee G, et al. All-solid-state flexible micro-super-capacitor arrays with patterned graphene/MWNT electrodes. Carbon, 2014, 79: 156–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Yoo J J, Balakrishnan K, Huang J, et al. Ultrathin planar graphene supercapacitors. Nano Lett, 2011, 11: 1423–1427

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Zhang L, DeArmond D, Alvarez N T, et al. Flexible micro-supercapacitor based on graphene with 3D structure. Small, 2017, 13: 1603114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Li L, Lou Z, Han W, et al. Highly stretchable micro-supercapacitor arrays with hybrid MWCNT/PANI electrodes. Adv Mater Technol, 2017, 2: 1600282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Huang P, Lethien C, Pinaud S, et al. On-chip and freestanding elastic carbon films for micro-supercapacitors. Science, 2016, 351: 691–695

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to JunYong Lu.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51925704, 51877214, 51607187, and 51907203), the Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 2019CFB371, and 2019CFB373), and the Special Financial Aid to China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019T120972).

Electronic supplementary material

11431_2020_1763_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

3D printing of high-performance micro-supercapacitors with patterned exfoliated graphene/carbon nanotube/silver nanowire electrodes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, L., Lu, J., Long, X. et al. 3D printing of high-performance micro-supercapacitors with patterned exfoliated graphene/carbon nanotube/silver nanowire electrodes. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 64, 1065–1073 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-020-1763-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-020-1763-5

Navigation