Scalable Paper Supercapacitors for Printed Wearable Electronics

Printed paper-based electronics offers solutions to rising energy concerns by supplying flexible, environmentally friendly, low-cost infrastructure for portable and wearable electronics. Herein, we demonstrate a scalable spray-coating approach to fabricate tailored paper poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)/cellulose nanofibril (CNF) electrodes for all-printed supercapacitors. Layer-by-layer spray deposition was used to achieve high-quality electrodes with optimized electrode thickness. The morphology of these electrodes was analyzed using advanced X-ray scattering methods, revealing that spray-coated electrodes have smaller agglomerations, resulting in a homogeneous film, ultimately suggesting a better electrode manufacturing method than drop-casting. The printed paper-based supercapacitors exhibit an areal capacitance of 9.1 mF/cm², which provides enough energy to power electrochromic indicators. The measured equivalent series resistance (ESR) is as low as 0.3 Ω, due to improved contact and homogeneous electrodes. In addition, a demonstrator in the form of a self-powered wearable wristband is shown, where a large-area (90 cm²) supercapacitor is integrated with a flexible solar cell and charged by ambient indoor light. This demonstration shows the tremendous potential for sequential coating/printing methods in the scaling up of printed wearables and self-sustaining systems.