Additive manufacturing of 2D nanomaterials for on-chip technologies

Project Information

3DAddChip

Grant agreement ID: 819069

DOI

10.3030/819069

EC signature date 7 May 2019

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 31 August 2026

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 999 968,00

EU contribution

€ 1 999 968,00

Coordinated by

IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - 3DAddChip (Additive manufacturing of 2D nanomaterials for on-chip technologies)

Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Wearable electronics and portable biomedical devices in the form of on-chip devices are increasingly dominating the battery market, and they are expected to become the predominant application for thin film and printed batteries by 2025. Batteries for portable and wearable devices must possess specific features in terms of size, geometry, weight, safety, and performance. These devices could allow the continuous monitoring of processing or phenomena, such as food preservation, crops, and healthcare.
The overall objectives of this project are related to the realization of efficient energy storage device, via 3D printing with a customized architecture. The energy storage will be also photo chargeable, ensuring a complete energy autonomy.The three main objectives of this project are the following:
Objective 1. The demonstration of 3D printed miniaturized energy storage devices for on-chip technologies
Objective 2. The demonstration of 3D printed miniaturized energy storage devices which can harvest solar energy.
Objective 3. The development of ink formulation for 3D printing which re up-scalable.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first 30 months of my ERC project we have demonstrated different ink formulations based on metallic transition metal dichalcogenides, graphene and other nanomaterials which are 3D printable. These have been used to demonstrate the printing of stable 3D structures of arbitrary complexity, from woodpile to interdigitated structures with micrometric features and extended over the third dimension and over small footprint areas.
Those structures have been used as electrode for microsupercapacitors and microbatteries based on aqueous electrolytes. The devices are benefitting by the small foot print area and high mass loading, which is uniquely achieved via 3D printing and they exhibits performance beyond the state of the art.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

We have demonstrated that such devices have energy density, power density and durability which are superior to the current state of the art of printed devices of comparable materials. In one specific case, we have demonstrated symmetric microsupercapacitors with an exceptional areal capacitance of 1.57 F cm−2 at 2 mA cm−2 which is retained over 72% after repeated voltage holding tests. The areal power density (0.968 mW cm−2) and areal energy density (51.2μWh cm−2) are superior to the ones of previously reported carbon-based supercapacitors either 3D or inkjet printed. Additionally, a current collector-free interdigitated microsupercapacitor combined with a gel electrolyte provides electrochemical performance close to the one of devices with liquid-like ion transport properties. By the end of the project, we will demonstrate that these devices can be photocharged via a 3d printed solar energy harvesting system, enabling energy autonomy for an extended period of time. Additionally, we will design synthesis methodologies and ink formulation for printing which can be produced in a large scale.

The image illustrates the miniaturized energy storage devices that we have demonstrated.