A study of 3D printed flexible supercapacitors onto silicone rubber substrates

The rapid development of flexible energy storage devices is crucial for various electronics industries. Highly flexible electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) can be manufactured by 3D printing technology. It was a great challenge to fabricate multiple material layers of the EDLC in one rapid and accurate deposition event. The fabricated structures were composed of twelve electrodes which could be configured in a number of different ways in one block module. This work aims to investigate the performance of the flexible EDLCs manufactured by 3D printing in a honeycomb pattern. The EDLC cells were fabricated using a slurry made from commercial activated carbon (AC) and a gel electrolyte deposited on a transparent silicone substrate. The flexible EDLCs structures can be used in flexible electronics with different patterns and sizes using 3D printer and can be applied to many applications such as wearable technology.