Due to its excellent chemical/thermal stability and mechanical robustness, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is a promising solid matrix material for ionogels. While bulk hBN ionogels have been employed in macroscopic applications such as lithium-ion batteries, hBN ionogel inks that are compatible with high-resolution printing have not yet been realized. Here, we describe aerosol jet-printable ionogels using exfoliated hBN nanoplatelets as the solid matrix. The hBN nanoplatelets are produced from bulk hBN powders by liquid-phase exfoliation, allowing printable hBN ionogel inks to be formulated following the addition of an imidazolium ionic liquid and ethyl lactate. The resulting inks are reliably printed with variable patterns and controllable thicknesses by aerosol jet printing, resulting in hBN ionogels that possess high room-temperature ionic conductivities and storage moduli of >3 mS cm −1 and >1 MPa, respectively. By integrating the hBN ionogel with printed semiconductors and electrical contacts, fully-printed thin-film transistors with operating voltages below 1 V are demonstrated on polyimide films. These devices exhibit desirable electrical performance and robust mechanical tolerance against repeated bending cycles, thus confirming the suitability of hBN ionogels for printed and flexible electronics.
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This content will become publicly available on August 15, 2024
Fully Printed, High‐Temperature Micro‐Supercapacitor Arrays Enabled by a Hexagonal Boron Nitride Ionogel Electrolyte
The proliferation and miniaturization of portable electronics require energy‐storage devices that are simultaneously compact, flexible, and amenable to scalable manufacturing. In this work, mechanically flexible micro‐supercapacitor arrays are demonstrated via sequential high‐speed screen printing of conductive graphene electrodes and a high‐temperature hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) ionogel electrolyte. By combining the superlative dielectric properties of 2D hBN with the high ionic conductivity of ionic liquids, the resulting hBN ionogel electrolyte enables micro‐supercapacitors with exceptional areal capacitances that approach 1 mF cm−2. Unlike incumbent polymer‐based electrolytes, the high‐temperature stability of the hBN ionogel electrolyte implies that the printed micro‐supercapacitors can be operated at unprecedentedly high temperatures up to 180 °C. These elevated operating temperatures result in increased power densities that make these printed micro‐supercapacitors particularly promising for applications in harsh environments such as underground exploration, aviation, and electric vehicles. The combination of enhanced functionality in extreme conditions and high‐speed production via scalable additive manufacturing significantly broadens the technological phase space for on‐chip energy storage.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 2037026
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10468759
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Materials
- ISSN:
- 0935-9648
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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