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The economic production and integration of nanomaterial-based wearable energy storage devices with mechanically-compliable form factors and reliable performance will usher in exciting opportunities in emerging technologies such as consumer electronics, pervasive computing, human–machine interface, robotics, and the Internet of Things. Despite the increased interests and efforts in nanotechnology-enabled flexible energy storage devices, reducing the manufacturing and integration costs while continuously improving the performance at the device and system level remains a major technological challenge. The inkjet printing process has emerged as a potential economic method for nanomanufacturing printed electronics, sensors, and energy devices. Nevertheless, there have been few reports reviewing the scalable nanomanufacturing of inkjet printed wearable energy storage devices. To fill this gap, here we review the recent advances in inkjet printed flexible energy storage technologies. We will provide an in-depth discussion focusing on the materials, manufacturing process integration, and performance issues in designing and implementing the inkjet printing of wearable energy storage devices. We have also compiled a comprehensive list of the reported device technologies with the corresponding processing factors and performance metrics. Finally, we will discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with related topics. The rapid and exciting progress achieved in many emerging and traditional disciplines is expected to lead to more theoretical and experimental advances that would ultimately enable the scalable nanomanufacturing of inkjet printed wearable energy storage devices.
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Progress in Inkjet-Printed Sensors and Antennas
In recent years, inkjet printing has become a popular form for creating sensors and antennas. These devices are fabricated using different materials with inkjet printing using various (conductive, oxide, biological) inks on predominantly flexible substrate. This form of fabrication has attracted much attention for a variety of reasons such as relatively cheap cost of manufacturing and materials, as well as the ease of use and high customization. These devices also provide a lighter frame and added flexibility allowing them to be incorporated as devices on non-planar surfaces. It is also possible for inkjet printing to be used as a sustainable manufacturing method, providing a method of reducing electronic waste. In this article, several topics related to inkjet printing are covered. These topics include a general overview of the fabrication process of inkjet devices through an inkjet printer, recent applications of inkjet-printed sensors, applications of inkjet-printed antennae, challenges in inkjet printing, and an outlook on the inkjet printing. In the fabrication section, the different materials and printing process are explored. Topics covered in the application section include gas sensors, biomedical sensors, pressure sensors, temperature sensors, glucose sensors, and more. In the inkjet antennas portion of the article, RFID tagging and 5G applications are highlighted. The main challenges covered are specific to fabrication that are being currently addressed.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2104513
- PAR ID:
- 10542133
- Publisher / Repository:
- The Electrochemical Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Electrochemical Society Interface
- Volume:
- 32
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1064-8208
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 61 to 71
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- sensors inkjet printing antennas progress
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1149/2.F12234IF
