On-demand solid-state artistic ultrahigh areal energy density microsupercapacitors

Abstract

Practical application of microsupercapacitors (MSCs) has been plagued by challenging task of achieving high energy density, shape/configuration diversity, and mechanical flexibility. Here, we present on-demand solid-state artistic ultrahigh areal energy density MSCs (a-MSCs). Direct-ink-writing (DIW) printing of rheology-tuned electrode inks and ultraviolet-curable gel polymer electrolyte inks allows the construction of thick electrodes with microscale features/arbitrary form factors and ionic isolation between unit cells (enabling electrochemical tailor-ing of voltages and capacitances in a single a-MSC). A nickel/gold-plated polyimide substrate is introduced as a flexible current collector that allows an increase in areal mass loading of electrodes. A DIW-printed polydimethyl-siloxane layer shifts the location of a neutral plane to electrode-current collector interface to improve flexibility. The resulting a-MSC exhibits high areal energy density (61.34 mu Wh cm(-2)) and on-demand (in-series/in-parallel) cell configuration with artistic versatility. Moreover, the a-MSC is aesthetically unitized with complex-shaped electronic devices, acting as a customized practical monolithic power source.