Inkjet-Printing of Supercapacitors

The fabrication of supercapacitors and coin cells by means of inkjet printing based on the utilization of a commercially available graphite-based ink is reported. The printing steps have been optimized utilizing a commercial office inkjet printer. Adjustments to the printing conditions as well as optimizing the device layout enabled the fabrication of usable supercapacitors and details of the assembly and processing steps have been investigated. Studies included a careful tuning of the ink properties to obtain homogeneous electrodes, to optimize layer thickness and, as a consequence, performance of the supercapacitor devices. Finally, the performance of the printing process was cross-checked by the fabrication of a coin-cell layout. Special emphasis was placed on the printing process to establish a simple and readily applicable fabrication of prototype device layouts.