Additive manufacturing (also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing) is being extensively utilized in many areas of electrochemistry to produce electrodes and devices, as this technique allows for fast prototyping and is relatively low cost. Furthermore, there is a variety of 3D-printing technologies available, which include fused deposition modeling (FDM), inkjet printing, select laser melting (SLM), and stereolithography (SLA), making additive manufacturing a highly desirable technique for electrochemical purposes. In particular, over the last number of years, a significant amount of research into using 3D printing to create electrodes/devices for electrochemical energy conversion and storage has emerged. Strides have been made in this area; however, there are still a number of challenges and drawbacks that need to be overcome in order to 3D print active and stable electrodes/devices for electrochemical energy conversion and storage to rival that of the state-of-the-art. In this Review, we will give an overview of the reasoning behind using 3D printing for these electrochemical applications. We will then discuss how the electrochemical performance of the electrodes/devices are affected by the various 3D-printing technologies and by manipulating the 3D-printed electrodes by post modification techniques. Finally, we will give our insights into the future perspectives of this exciting field based on our discussion through this Review.

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Lignin-derived nanoporous carbon with narrow and tuneable pore size distribution has been produced by activation with potassium hydroxide (KOH). The results manifest the competition between the oxidation reaction of carbon and the intriguing C-C bond re-organization provoked by the chemical activation. A trend between the average pore size and the in-plane crystal size of few-layer graphene is observed.The ability for non-Faradaic charge storage is negatively affected by the graphenization degree. The ionsieving effect is detected for carbon materials with an average pore size below 0.9 nm, suggesting at least partial solvation of electrolyte ions inside pores. Capacitance values up to 87 F g À1 in an organic based electrolyte are obtained.

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Poly(N-methylpyrrole) (PNMPy), poly(N-cyanoethylpyrrole) (PNCPy) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) films have been prepared using both single and two polymerization steps for the selective determination of low concentrations of dopamine, ascorbic acid and uric acid in tertiary mixtures.Analysis of the sensitivity and resolution parameters derived from the electrochemical response of such films indicates that PEDOT is the most appropriate for the unambiguous detection of the three species.Indeed, the performance of PEDOT is practically independent of the presence of both gold nanoparticles at the surface of the film and interphases inside the film, even though these two factors are known to improve the electroactivity of conducting polymers. Quantum mechanical calculations on model complexes have been used to examine the intermolecular interaction involved in complexes formed by PEDOT chains and oxidized dopamine, ascorbic acid and uric acid. Results show that such complexes are mainly stabilized by C-HÁ Á ÁO interactions rather than by conventional hydrogen bonds.In order to improve the sensitivity of PEDOT through the formation of specific hydrogen bonds, a derivative bearing a hydroxymethyl group attached to the dioxane ring of each repeat unit has been designed. Poly(hydroxymethyl-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PHMeDOT) has been prepared and characterized by FTIR, UV-vis spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Finally, the performance of PHMeDOT and PEDOT for the selective detection of the species mentioned above has been compared.

We probed the effect of structural mesopore ordering on the rate performance of supercapacitors using two carbon materials differing mainly in the ordering of mesopores, but displaying the same micropore size distributions, similar mesopore size distributions, and similar electrical conductivity. The material with ordered mesopores shows an excellent rate capability of ∼80% capacitance retention at a very high current density of 50 A g–1, whereas its disordered counterpart exhibits a capacitance retention of ∼60% at the same current density. On account of the similarities between the two carbons, the enhanced rate capability of highly ordered mesoporous carbon can be attributed to the straight channels of long-range highly ordered 2D hexagonal mesopores. This provides favorable conditions for ultrafast ion transport, suggesting the role of mesopores in high-rate operation to be more important than being an electrolyte reservoir only.