Direct Graphene Deposition via a Modified Laser-Assisted Method for Interdigitated Microflexible Supercapacitors

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Miniaturized, shape-conformable energy storage like microflexible supercapacitors are crucial for the Internet of Things.
• Current fabrication methods need to be scalable and sustainable for emerging manufacturing platforms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To modify a laser-based method for simultaneous graphene synthesis and transfer.
• To improve graphene quality and electrical conductivity for microflexible supercapacitors.
• To enable scalable and sustainable fabrication of these devices.

Main Methods:

• Modified a laser-based method by tuning laser beam inclination and precursor-substrate distance.
• Achieved displacement of the laser beam trace from the graphene area to prevent substrate damage.
• Utilized post-transport irradiation to form interdigitated electrodes from continuous graphene films.

Main Results:

• Optimized graphene films exhibited high C/O (36) and sp2/sp3 (13) ratios, indicating superior quality.
• Fabricated microflexible supercapacitors demonstrated high capacitance, comparable to leading interdigitated supercapacitors.
• The devices retained 91% capacitance after 10,000 cycles and showed stability under bending conditions.

Conclusions:

• The optimized laser-based approach offers a viable method for fabricating high-performance microflexible interdigitated supercapacitors.
• This technique is suitable for scalable and sustainable production for applications in paper electronics and smart textiles.