There are significant challenges in developing deformable devices at the system level that contain integrated, deformable energy storage devices. Here we demonstrate an origami lithium-ion battery that can be deformed at an unprecedented high level, including folding, bending and twisting. Deformability at the system level is enabled using rigid origami, which prescribes a crease pattern such that the materials making the origami pattern do not experience large strain. The origami battery is fabricated through slurry coating of electrodes onto paper current collectors and packaging in standard materials, followed by folding using the Miura pattern. The resulting origami battery achieves significant linear and areal deformability, large twistability and bendability. The strategy described here represents the fusion of the art of origami, materials science and functional energy storage devices, and could provide a paradigm shift for architecture and design of flexible and curvilinear electronics with exceptional mechanical characteristics and functionalities.
Rapid diagnosis is critical for the treatment and prevention of diseases. An advanced nanomaterial‐based biosensing platform that detects COVID‐19 antibodies within seconds is reported. The biosensing platform is created by 3D nanoprinting of three‐dimensional electrodes, coating the electrodes by nanoflakes of reduced‐graphene‐oxide (rGO), and immobilizing specific viral antigens on the rGO nanoflakes. The electrode is then integrated with a microfluidic device and used in a standard electrochemical cell. When antibodies are introduced on the electrode surface, they selectively bind with the antigens, changing the impedance of the electrical circuit which is detected via impedance spectroscopy. Antibodies to SARS‐CoV‐2 spike S1 protein and its receptor‐binding‐domain (RBD) are detected at a limit‐of‐detection of 2.8 × 10−15 and 16.9 × 10−15 m, respectively, and read by a smartphone‐based user interface. The sensor can be regenerated within a minute by introducing a low‐pH chemistry that elutes the antibodies from the antigens, allowing successive sensing of test samples using the same sensor. Sensing of S1 and RBD antibodies is specific, which cross‐reacts neither with other antibodies such as RBD, S1, and nucleocapsid antibody nor with proteins such as interleukin‐6. The proposed sensing platform could also be useful to detect biomarkers for other infectious agents such as Ebola, HIV, and Zika.
New hybrid 3D structure electrodes with a high aspect ratio are fabricated through extrusionbased additive manufacturing to achieve high mass loading. This new 3D printed battery exhibits both high areal and specific capacity, thus overcoming the trade-off between the two of the conventional laminated batteries. This excellent battery performance is achieved by introducing a hybrid 3D structure that utilizes the benefits of the existing laminated structure and threedimensional interdigitated structure. In addition, conventional battery paste components are used optimally to fit the 3D printing process, which eliminates the need for a complicated solvent preparation process required for a typical 3D printing process for battery applications. Using the CR2032 coin cell, the general assembly problem that occurs at the 3D structured electrodes is solved, which means that the proposed hybrid 3D structure can easily be added to the existing lamination structure. This innovative design and fabrication process demonstrates the high areal energy and power density, which is a critical requirement for energy storage systems in transportation and stationary applications.
Printed Electronics has emerged as an important fabrication technique that overcomes several shortcomings of conventional lithography and provides custom rapid prototyping for various sensor applications. In this work, silver microelectrode arrays (MEA) with three different electrode spacing were fabricated using 3-D printing by the aerosol jet technology. The microelectrodes were printed at a length scale of about 15 μm, with the space between the electrodes accurately controlled to about 2 times (30 μm, MEA30), 6.6 times (100 μm, MEA100) and 12 times (180 μm, MEA180) the trace width, respectively. Hydrogen peroxide and glucose were chosen as model analytes to demonstrate the performance of the MEA for sensor applications. The electrodes are shown to reduce hydrogen peroxide with a reduction current proportional to the concentration of hydrogen peroxide for certain concentration ranges. Further, the sensitivity of the current for the three electrode configurations was shown to decrease with an increase in the microelectrode spacing (sensitivity of MEA30: MEA100: MEA180 was in the ratio of 3.7: 2.8: 1), demonstrating optimal MEA geometry for such applications. The noise of the different electrode configurations is also characterized and shows a dramatic reduction from MEA30 to MEA100 and MEA180 electrodes. Further, it is shown that the response current is proportional to MEA100 and MEA180 electrode areas, but not for the area of MEA30 electrode (the current density of MEA30 : MEA100 : MEA180 is 0.25 : 1 : 1), indicating that the MEA30 electrodes suffer from diffusion overlap from neighboring electrodes. The work thus establishes the lower limit of microelectrode spacing for our geometry. The lowest detection limit of the MEAs was calculated (with S/N = 3) to be 0.45 μM. Glucose oxidase was immobilized on MEA100 microelectrodes to demonstrate a glucose biosensor application. The sensitivity of glucose biosensor was 1.73 μAmM-1 and the calculated value of detection limit (S/N = 3) was 1.7 μM. The electrochemical response characteristics of the MEAs were in agreement with the predictions of existing models. The current work opens up the possibility of additive manufacturing as a fabrication technique for low cost custom-shaped MEA structures that can be used as electrochemical platforms for a wide range of sensor applications.
The fabrication of 3D metal-dielectric structures at sub-mm length scale is highly important in order to realize low-loss passives and GHz wavelength antennas with applications in wearable and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. The inherent 2D nature of lithographic processes severely limits the available manufacturing routes to fabricate 3D structures. Further, the lithographic processes are subtractive and require the use of environmentally harmful chemicals. In this letter, we demonstrate an additive manufacturing method to fabricate 3D metal-dielectric structures at sub-mm length scale. A UV curable dielectric is dispensed from an Aerosol Jet system at 10-100 µm length scale and instantaneously cured to build complex 3D shapes at a length scale <1 mm. A metal nanoparticle ink is then dispensed over the 3D dielectric using a combination of jetting action and tilted dispense head, also using the Aerosol Jet technique and at a length scale 10-100 µm, followed by the nanoparticle sintering. Simulation studies are carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of using such structures as mm-wave antennas. The manufacturing method described in this letter opens up the possibility of fabricating an entirely new class of custom-shaped 3D structures at a sub-mm length scale with potential applications in 3D antennas and passives.
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