A flexographic printing method for battery fabrication was presented. Key criteria for developing functional flexographic inks were established. A variety of MnO 2 composite cathode inks were developed and analyzed. A PSBR based ink showed excellent printability and electrochemical performance.
a b s t r a c tA novel roll-to-roll flexographic printing process for rechargeable zinc-based battery manufacturing was presented in this paper. Based on the fundamental operating mechanism of flexography, key criteria for developing functional flexographic printing inks were established, including composite ink rheology (steady-state viscosity and yield stress), ink wettability as well as ink dispersing qualities. A variety of MnO 2 cathode inks were developed and analyzed comprehensively based on these criteria. A novel type of aqueous cathode ink based on PSBR polymeric binder showed excellent flexographic printability as well as promising electrochemical performance.
This paper reports on an integrated energy harvesting prototype that consists of dispenser-printed thermoelectric energy harvesting and electrochemical energy storage devices. Parallel-connected thermoelectric devices with low internal resistances were designed, fabricated and characterized. The use of a commercially available dc-to-dc converter was explored to step-up a 27.1 mV input voltage from a printed thermoelectric device to a regulated 2.34 V output at a maximum of 34% conversion efficiency. The regulated power succeeds in charging dispenser-printed, zinc-based micro-batteries with charging efficiencies of up to 67%. The prototype presented in this work demonstrates the feasibility of deploying a printable, cost-effective and perpetual power solution for practical wireless sensor network applications.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.