Graphene-Based Linear Tandem Micro-Supercapacitors with Metal-Free Current Collectors and High-Voltage Output

Abstract

Printable supercapacitors are regarded as a promising class of microscale power source, but are facing challenges derived from conventional sandwich-like geometry. Herein, the printable fabrication of new-type planar graphene-based linear tandem micro-supercapacitors (LTMSs) on diverse substrates with symmetric and asymmetric configuration, high-voltage output, tailored capacitance, and outstanding flexibility is demonstrated. The resulting graphene-based LTMSs consisting of 10 micro-supercapacitors (MSs) present efficient high-voltage output of 8.0 V, suggestive of superior uniformity of the entire integrated device. Meanwhile, LTMSs possess remarkable flexibility without obvious capacitance degradation under different bending states. Moreover, areal capacitance of LTMSs can be sufficiently modulated by incorporating polyaniline-based pseudocapacitive nanosheets into graphene electrodes, showing enhanced capacitance of 7.6 mF cm⁻². To further improve the voltage output and energy density, asymmetric LTMSs are fabricated through controlled printing of linear-patterned graphene as negative electrodes and MnO₂ nanosheets as positive electrodes. Notably, the asymmetric LTMSs from three serially connected MSs are easily extended to 5.4 V, triple voltage output of the single cell (1.8 V), suggestive of the versatile applicability of this technique. Therefore, this work offers numerous opportunities of graphene and analogous nanosheets for one-step scalable fabrication of flexible tandem energy storage devices integrating with printed electronics on same substrate.

A universal printing technology is demonstrated to fabricate graphene-based linear tandem micro-supercapacitors, with tailored planar device geometry and metal-free current collectors and interconnects, on different substrates. The fabricated devices show high-voltage output, remarkable flexibility, and outstanding electrochemical performance due to the advanced device geometry and high-performance 2D nanosheets.

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