Developing High-Performance In-Plane Flexible Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries with Laser-Scribed Carbon-Supported All Electrodeposited Electrodes

Abstract

Developing high-performance, safer, and affordable flexible batteries is of urgent need to power the fast-growing flexible electronics market. In this respect, zinc-ion chemistry employing aqueous-based electrolytes represents a promising combination considering the safety, cost efficiency, and both high energy and high-power output. Herein, we represent a highperformance flexible in-plane aqueous zinc-ion miniaturized battery constructed with all electrodeposited electrodes, i.e., MnO 2 cathode and zinc anode with polyimide-derived interdigital patterned laser-scribed carbon (LSC) as the current collector as well as the template for electrodeposition. The LSC possesses a cross-linked network of graphitic carbon sheet, which offers large surface area over low footprint and ensures active materials loading with a robust conductive network. The LSC with high zincophilic characteristic also offers dendrite-free zinc deposition with very low Zn 2+ plating stripping overpotential. Benefitting from the Zn//MnO 2 -rich redox chemistry, the ability of the 3D LSC network to uniformly distribute reaction sites, and the architectural merits of in-plane interdigitated electrode configuration, we report very high capacity values of ∼549 mAh/g (or ∼523 μAh/cm 2 ) and 148 mAh/g (or 140 μAh/cm 2 ) at 0.1 A/g (0.095 mA/cm 2 ) and 2 A/g (1.9 mA/cm 2 ) currents, respectively. The device was also able to maintain a high capacity of 196 mAh/g (areal capacity of 76.19 μAh/cm 2 ) at 1 A/g (0.95 mA/cm 2 ) current after 1350 cycles. The flexibility of the device was demonstrated in polyacryl amide (PAM) gel polymer soaked with a 2 M ZnSO 4 and 0.2 M MnSO 4 electrolyte, which exhibited a comparable specific capacity of ∼102−110 mAh/g in flat condition and different bending (100°or 160°bending) conditions. The device does not use any conventional current collector, separator, and conductive or polymer additives. The overall process is highly scalable and can be completed in less than a couple of hours.

Room-Temperature Synthesis of Biogenic δ-MnO2 NPs for the Dehydrogenative Coupling of Diamines with Alcohols for Benzimidazole and Quinoxaline Synthesis: An Efficient Catalyst for Electrochemical Applications

“…The assessment of δ-MnO 2 NPs by the aforementioned techniques and its comparison with other similarly fashioned catalysts (Table S2) indicate the range of employing it as a catalyst in other electrocatalytic applications. Moreover, the MnO 2 NPs are widely used for battery and supercapacitor − applications as compared to HER.…”

Direct Laser Writing: From Materials Synthesis and Conversion to Electronic Device Processing

“…Additionally, lithium costs and electrolyte toxicity further hamper the application of LIB in flexible technologies. [322,[379][380][381][382][383] Thus, thin film electrode battery cells have become increasingly desirable within this context, and laser processing has been employed over the years in several tasks, from electrode cutting, annealing, or structuring. [384] Alongside electrode processing by lasers, printing technologies have also been increasingly explored in thin battery concepts, for current collectors, electrolyte, and separator printing, to avoid physical vapor deposition under vacuum of metal electrode material (e.g., aluminum and copper).…”

“…[250] In a very elegant way, Yadav et al address this issue, by assembling a flexible zinc-ion battery (ZIB) based on DLW-engineered current collectors followed by electrodeposition of active materials. [379,382] The team laser-scribed interdigitated electrodes on PI followed by the electrodeposition of vanadium oxide and zinc. The obtained aqueous rechargeable ZIB exhibited a high initial capacity of 556 mAh g −1 at a current density of 0.1 A g −1 , even after considerable mechanical deformation tests, [379] showing comparable performance with other cells reported in the literature using other synthesis and assemblies methods.…”

Fabrication of an Energy-Dense, Binder-Free Zn//V5O12·6H2O Solid-State In-Plane Flexible Battery via a Rapid and Scalable Approach

“…44 Recently we have shown the fabrication of a Zn//MnO 2 fullcell in-plane flexible battery with laser-scribed carbon supporting all electrodeposited electrodes, which showed a high capacity of 196 mAh/g at 1 A/g current after 1350 cycles, accompanied by excellent flexibility. 45 Wang et al 46 reported on the fabrication of a Zn//Zn x V 2 O 5 microbattery by electrodepositing layered M x V 2 O 5 onto a three-dimensional (3D) nanoporous Au microcurrent collector. The hydrated cation-preintercalated electrodes in a symmetric configuration showed a high volumetric energy density of ∼358 mWh/cm 3 .…”