Inkjet and Extrusion Printing for Electrochemical Energy Storage: A Minireview

Inkjet and extrusion printing are widely employed technologies in the field of printed electronics. They provide opportunity of manufacturing diverse electronic devices on various types of substrates by employing digital layouts under ambient conditions. In this short review, fundamentals about inkjet mechanisms and ink fluidic characteristics are presented. The interaction between individual droplets and that of droplets with substrates, which are pivotal to the printing resolution and uniformity, are analyzed. In addition, some issues on droplet-based extrusion 3D printing are discussed as an extension of conventional inkjet printing. The recent progress in application of inkjet and extrusion printing in the field of electrochemical energy storage, ranging from batteries and supercapacitors to energy storage electrochromics, is also highlighted. Challenges and perspectives are discussed at the end. It is expected that inkjet and extrusion printing will be potent technologies to the development of electrochemical energy devices for the flexible and wearable electronics.