Direct Printable Proton-Conducting Nanocomposite Inks for All-Quasi-Solid-State Electrochemical Capacitors

Additive manufacturing and especially 3D printing offer many advantages for the on-demand fabrication of wearable and/or custom made electronic devices. To realize completely custom made electronic devices entirely by 3D printing, adaptation, and development of 3D printing technologies for energy conversion devices that can serve as power sources, is also necessary. In the present study, a 3D printing technique that employs functional inks for the fabrication of proton exchange membranes was developed. Mixtures of proton-conducting ionic liquids, inorganic silica nanoparticles, and UV-sensitive photocurable resins were chosen as inks for 3D printing of membranes. We found that the mixing ratio of the precursors enabled tuning of the viscosity of inks, and the inks with an appropriate mixing ratio could be applied for 3D printing. We also confirmed that our developed 3D-printed inks after curing by UV irradiation can function as proton exchange membranes in all-solid-state electro-chemical double-layer capacitors.

Automated summary

This study developed a 3D printing technique using functional inks for the fabrication of proton exchange membranes, with the viscosity of inks adjusted by the mixing ratio of precursors. The UV-cured 3D-printed inks were confirmed to function as proton exchange membranes in all-solid-state electro-chemical double-layer capacitors.