Printable Thin Film Supercapacitors Using Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

TLDR

The study aims to develop an entirely printable charge‑storage device by using a simplified architecture composed solely of printable materials, enabling full integration with printed electronics. The authors fabricated flexible thin‑film supercapacitors on plastic by printing sprayed networks of single‑walled carbon nanotubes as both electrodes and charge collectors, and employed printable aqueous gel and organic liquid electrolytes. The devices achieved high energy and power densities—6 Wh kg⁻¹ for both electrolytes and 23 kW kg⁻¹ (aqueous) and 70 kW kg⁻¹ (organic)—comparable to other SWCNT supercapacitors, demonstrating the potential of printable thin‑film supercapacitors.

Abstract

Thin film supercapacitors were fabricated using printable materials to make flexible devices on plastic. The active electrodes were made from sprayed networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) serving as both electrodes and charge collectors. Using a printable aqueous gel electrolyte as well as an organic liquid electrolyte, the performances of the devices show very high energy and power densities (6 W h/kg for both electrolytes and 23 and 70 kW/kg for aqueous gel electrolyte and organic electrolyte, respectively) which is comparable to performance in other SWCNT-based supercapacitor devices fabricated using different methods. The results underline the potential of printable thin film supercapacitors. The simplified architecture and the sole use of printable materials may lead to a new class of entirely printable charge storage devices allowing for full integration with the emerging field of printed electronics.