Laser-processed graphene based micro-supercapacitors for ultrathin, rollable, compact and designable energy storage components

• Published in: Nano energy 2016-08, Vol.26, p.276-285
• Main Authors: Xie, Binghe, Wang, Yang, Lai, Wenhui, Lin, Wei, Lin, Ziyin, Zhang, Zhexu, Zou, Peichao, Xu, Yang, Zhou, Shuang, Yang, Cheng, Kang, Feiyu, Wong, Ching-Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aluminum electrolyte capacitor; Graphene; Laser; Micro-supercapacitor; Surface mountable supercapacitor
• ISSN: 2211-2855
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.04.045

With the development of wearable/flexible electronics, a formidable challenge is to integrate electronic components which were large in their original size into a flexible, thin, and arbitrary layout. As an indispensible component in electronics, commercial micro-supercapacitors are disadvantageous in their clumsy cuboid geometry and limited capacity, and are not promising for future applications. In comparison, film-like micro-supercapacitors are superior in miniaturized system integration since they can be folded to fit in restricted spaces while maintaining a high level of volumetric energy density. Here, we carried out a benchmark study of a state-of-the-art well-packaged thin film micro-supercapacitor toward commercial micro-supercapacitor and aluminum electrolyte capacitor. The micro-planar supercapacitor not only exhibits 3.75 times of a commercial micro-supercapacitor and 8785 times of an aluminum electrolytic capacitor in volumetric energy density under 1000mVs−1 scan rate, but can also be tailored into diversified shapes, rolled up, and plugged into tiny interstitial spaces inside a device. Such ultrathin (18µm) micro-supercapacitor component with high volumetric energy density (0.98mWhcm−3 in LiCl-PVA gel, 5.7mWhcm−3 in ionic liquid), can be integrated into an electronic device system and shows a series of superior performance characteristics over current commercial benchmarks, which may find vast applications. The laser processed graphene based micro-planar supercapacitor (LPG-MPS) component showed 3.75 and 8785 times in volumetric energy density to the commercial surface mountable supercapacitor (SMS) and aluminum electrolyte capacitor (AEC) under 1000mVs−1. It can be fabricated in a large scale and is readily applicable for wearable and flexible electronics energy management. [Display omitted] •Just one single process can both reduce and ablate GO electrode arrays with great convenience.•The first benchmark study of LPG-MPS with commercial-available counterparts.•Well-packaged LPG-MPS devices can be tailored into alien shapes to cater to various applications and integrated with printed circuits.