Three-Dimensional Printed Electrode and Its Novel Applications in Electronic Devices

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology provides a novel approach to material fabrication for various applications because of its ability to create low-cost 3D printed platforms. In this study, a printable graphene-based conductive filament was employed to create a range of 3D printed electrodes (3DEs) using a commercial 3D printer. This printing technology provides a simplistic and low-cost approach, which eliminates the need for the ex-situ modification and post-treatment of the product. The conductive nature of the 3DEs provides numerous deposition platforms for electrochemical active nanomaterials such as graphene, polypyrrole, and cadmium sulfide, either through electrochemical or physical approaches. To provide proof-of-concept, these 3DEs were physiochemically and electrochemically evaluated and proficiently fabricated into a supercapacitor and photoelectrochemical sensor. The as-fabricated supercapacitor provided a good capacitance performance, with a specific capacitance of 98.37 Fg−1. In addition, these 3DEs were fabricated into a photoelectrochemical sensing platform. They had a photocurrent response that exceeded expectations (~724.1 μA) and a lower detection limit (0.05 μM) than an ITO/FTO glass electrode. By subsequently modifying the printing material and electrode architecture, this 3D printing approach could provide a facile and rapid manufacturing process for energy devices based on the conceptual design.

Electrochemical biosensors for pathogen detection

“…Resultant conductive components are often embedded in insulating polymer or ceramic substrates, including Teflon, polyetherkeytone (PEK), and glass, to complete fabrication of the transducer element. While not yet applied to pathogen detection applications, three-dimensional (3D) printing processes, including inkjet printing (Bhat et al 2018;Medina-S� anchez et al 2014;Pavinatto et al 2015), selective laser melting (Ambrosi et al 2016;Loo et al 2017), and microextrusion printing (Foo et al 2018), have also been used for the fabrication of electrochemical sensors and electrodes using a variety of metals. As shown in Table 1, unstructured metal electrodes exhibit a range of detection limits.…”

Direct Ink Writing Technology (3D Printing) of Graphene-Based Ceramic Nanocomposites: A Review

“…The maximum density of cells was reached in the scaffold with 0.5 wt% GO, Figure 11b [278]. Foo et al [282] developed a method for producing 3D printed electrode (3DEs) and its novel applications in electronic devices. Here, the 3Des were created by employing a commercial graphenebased conductive filament that was purchased from Black Magic.…”

“…Here, the 3Des were created by employing a commercial graphenebased conductive filament that was purchased from Black Magic. Besides, a layer of gold was sputtered on the surface of the 3DEs for the complete fabrication of the electrode, which was named 3DE/Au, Figure 13 [282]. The 3DE/Au was used as the current collector and working electrode for a solid-state supercapacitor with a multilayered structure.…”

From Silver Nanoflakes to Silver Nanonets: An Effective Trade-Off between Conductivity and Stretchability of Flexible Electrodes

“…Flexible printed electronics aim to minimize material waste and production costs, which was considered as an effective way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during manufacturing [1,2]. With the development of nanomaterials and nanotechnology, various kinds of printing pastes ranging from conductors, insulators, and semiconductors comprised of nanostructures have been developed and utilized for solar cells [3], touch screens [4], transistors [5], sensors [6,7], and elastic/flexible devices [8,9]. Additionally, flexibility and stretchable properties are considered as the key parameters of flexible devices [10].…”