3D Printed Compressible Quasi-Solid-State Nickel–Iron Battery

Abstract

The design of a compressible battery with stable electrochemical performance is extremely important in compression-tolerant and flexible electronics. While this remains challenging with the current battery manufacturing method, the field of 3D printing offers the possibility of producing free-standing 3D-printed electrodes with various structural configurations. Through the simple and scalable strategy, various structural configurations can be produced. Herein, we demonstrate a 3D-printed quasi-solid-state Ni-Fe battery (QSS-NFB) that shows excellent compressibility, ultrahigh energy density, and superior long-term cycling durability. Through a rational design and adjustment of chemical components, two electrodes consisting of ultrathin Ni(OH)₂ nanosheet array cathode and holey α-Fe₂O₃ nanorod array anode are achieved with a ultrahigh active material loading over 130 mg cm^-3 and excellent compressibility up to 60%. It is noteworthy that the compressible QSS-NFB demonstrated an excellent cycling stability (∼91.3% capacity retentions after 10000 cycles) and ultrahigh energy density (28.1 mWh cm^-3 at a power of 10.6 mW cm^-3). This work provides a simple method for producing compression-tolerant energy-storage devices, which are expected to have promising applications in next generation stretchable/wearable electronics.