Energy storage has become a global concern in our modern society. The rapid market growth of portable electronics and electric vehicles raises the demand for innovative energy storage devices (batteries or supercapacitors) which possess both high energy density and power density. In this ERC-PoC project, Inkjet Printed Ultrafast Batteries and Large Integrated Capacitors (iPUBLIC), Prof. Mikael Östling and his team from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden have successfully verified the prototype of a novel energy storage device through inkjet printing techniques and identified the commercialization strategy.
Comprehensive inkjet printing techniques have been developed or improved for versatile functional materials (2D layered materials, metal nanoparticles, conducting polymers, etc.). In particular, our formulated graphene inks have been tested and evaluated for industrial-scale inkjet printing. The nearly full printing techniques enable efficient and scalable fabrication of energy storage devices on various substrates. In addition, the direct patterning merit of inkjet printing facilitates the construction of complicated device architecture to verify innovative prototype. As compared with conventional device structure of identical electrode materials, the innovative prototype exhibits 40 % higher energy density at the same high power density. This advantage, together with the scalability and cost efficiency of the printing techniques, ensures the commercial potential of the innovative prototype.
To expedite the commercialization, a spin-off company, Aninkco AB, has been founded in Sweden with the business focus on research and sales of functional inks and relevant printed devices and components. The company has partnered with several other companies and research institutes for R&D on integrating graphene-based inks, printing techniques and functional devices into their products and manufacturing processing. The ultrafast batteries verified in iPUBLIC have become one important focus of Aninkco AB and will be further developed and finally commercialized through licensing to one or several established companies in the industry of paper, battery manufacturer, and electric vehicles and so on.
These printed ultrafast batteries have great potential to meet the urgent and increasing demands from the rapid growth of portable electronic devices and electric vehicles. They are promising to generate both economic and societal values in strengthening the European battery market share and expediting the mass transition from gasoline cars to electric vehicles.
