3D Printed Supercapacitor Exploiting PEDOT-Based Resin and Polymer Gel Electrolyte

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Additive Manufacturing

Background:

• Growing demand for renewable energy and Internet of Things (IoT) devices necessitates advanced energy storage solutions.
• Additive Manufacturing (AM) offers customization for portable energy storage, but resolution limitations exist with techniques like direct ink writing.
• Micrometric precision is crucial for fabricating high-performance, miniaturized energy storage devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize a novel resin for stereolithography (SL) 3D printing of supercapacitors (SCs).
• To create a printable, UV-curable conductive composite material for fabricating 3D energy storage electrodes.
• To evaluate the electrical and electrochemical performance of 3D printed electrodes in an interdigitated device architecture.

Main Methods:

• Development of a UV-curable conductive composite resin by mixing Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA).
• Fabrication of supercapacitor electrodes using a stereolithography (SL) 3D printing process with the developed resin.
• Electrical conductivity measurements and electrochemical characterization of the 3D printed electrodes.

Main Results:

• The developed resin exhibits electrical conductivity within the range of conductive polymers (200 mS/cm).
• The 3D printed supercapacitor devices achieved an energy density of 0.68 µWh/cm², which is comparable to literature values.
• The stereolithography process enabled the fabrication of functional electrodes with micrometric precision.

Conclusions:

• A novel, printable, and UV-curable conductive resin was successfully developed for SL 3D printing of supercapacitors.
• The developed material and process are suitable for fabricating functional energy storage devices with competitive performance.
• This advancement holds potential for customized and portable energy storage solutions.