English

Korean researchers use laser ablation to create deformable micro supercapacitors

1146
2024-05-30 15:22:30
See translation

Recently, a research team from the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and POSTECH University successfully utilized laser sintering pattern technology to create a deformable micro supercapacitor (MSCs), specifically designed to provide energy storage solutions for soft electronic devices.

 


This breakthrough meets the urgent need for efficient energy storage systems in stretchable devices in emerging health monitoring and other applications.
MSC provides customizable shape factors, reliable performance, effective space utilization, and easy integration with electronic components, making them a strong competitor to meet this demand. However, solid metals such as gold, which are commonly used to collect current in MSCs, have limited stretching ability and limit deformation potential.

In order to manufacture deformable micro supercapacitors (MSCs) that can bend and stretch without damaging or losing function, researchers chose a liquid metal - eutectic gallium indium alloy (EGaIn) as the current collector. EGaIn is highly deformable due to its high conductivity and liquid properties. However, how to utilize EGaIn to manufacture high-density digital inter mode to ensure high-energy storage performance has become a technical challenge.

Highly deformable micro supercapacitors (MSCs) are based on liquid metal current collectors. The researchers cleverly utilized laser ablation technology to achieve a perfect combination of high capacity and flexibility in micro supercapacitors (MSCs). They chose graphene as the electrode material and polystyrene block copolymer (SEBS) as the flexible substrate material. By uniformly laying EGaIn thin film on SEBS substrate through brush method and covering it with graphene, a digital graphene EGaIn electrode was finally created using laser ablation technology.

In optimizing the laser ablation process, researchers ensured complete ablation of graphene and EGaIn without damaging the SEBS substrate. Due to the ability of graphene and EGaIn films to absorb laser light at a wavelength of 355 nm, while SEBS materials do not absorb any light, the team successfully achieved selective ablation of graphene EGaIn electrodes without sacrificing the flexibility of SEBS substrates.

By finely controlling the gap between adjacent digital electrodes and graphene mass charges, researchers achieved a region capacitance of up to 1336 μ F cm-2 and demonstrated reliable rate performance. What's even more remarkable is that these MSCs can withstand up to 1000 stretching and contraction cycles without affecting energy storage performance.

To verify the practicality of MSC as a deformable power source, researchers constructed a soft electronic system consisting of a series and parallel MSC array integrated with LEDs. The system, relying on the liquid characteristics of the EGaIn current collector and the flexibility of the SEBS substrate, can operate stably under various mechanical deformations (such as folding, stretching, twisting, etc.), fully demonstrating its powerful energy storage performance.
Laser technology has played a crucial role in this research, enabling efficient application of liquid metals in MSC current collectors. Researcher Chanwoo Yang said, "Laser technology not only ensures the accuracy of work, but also accelerates the entire manufacturing process."

In addition, laser ablation technology is also suitable for patterning various electrode materials, including carbon materials, metal oxides, and Mxene, providing broad prospects for the development of deformable and high-performance energy storage systems.

With the rapid development of microelectronics and optoelectronics technology, miniaturized and elastic energy storage devices have become crucial, from folding and rolling equipment to stretching equipment in applications such as electronic textiles and healthcare. And this deformable MSC research based on laser ablation technology will undoubtedly provide strong support for the development and commercialization of elastic energy storage devices, and demonstrate enormous application value in multiple industrial fields.

Source: OFweek

Related Recommendations
  • New technology can efficiently heal cracks in nickel based high-temperature alloys manufactured by laser additive manufacturing

    Recently, Professor Zhu Qiang's team from the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering at Southern University of Science and Technology published their latest research findings in the Journal of Materials Science. The research team has proposed a new process for liquid induced healing (LIH) laser additive manufacturing of cracks. By controlling micro remelting at grain boundaries to introdu...

    2024-03-15
    See translation
  • A new type of flexible reflective mirror can improve the performance of X-ray microscopy

    A research team in Japan has designed a flexible and shapable X-ray reflector, achieving significant accuracy and higher stability at the atomic level.This new technology, developed by Satoshi Matsuyama and Takato Inoue from the Graduate School of Engineering at Nagoya University, in collaboration with the Japanese Institute of Physical and Chemical Research and JTEC Corporation, improves the perf...

    2024-05-06
    See translation
  • Breakthrough in optical quantum simulation using long-lived polariton droplets

    Abstract: A groundbreaking discovery by CNR Nanotec and scientists from the University of Warsaw has revealed a robust method for creating long-lived quantum fluids using semiconductor photonic gratings. This study, published in the journal Nature Physics, marks a significant step forward in simulating complex systems through unique polariton droplets that demonstrate stability in lifespan and rec...

    2024-03-27
    See translation
  • Opton Laser commercializes ultra-high contrast third-order autocorrelators

    Recently, Opton Laser International, a supplier specializing in photonics, is currently distributing manufacturer UltraFast Innovations (UFI)'s ultra-high contrast third-order autocorrelator Tundra++. The new generation Tundra aims to characterize the temporal intensity distribution and quality of laser pulses with particularly high sensitivity.This is to avoid the harmful effects caused by the hi...

    2023-08-31
    See translation
  • Enhanced laser heterodyne spectroscopy contributes to the measurement of atmospheric greenhouse gases

    The research team led by Professor Gao Xiaoming of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences has improved the measurement accuracy of atmospheric greenhouse gases by using erbium-doped fiber amplifier assisted laser heterodyne radiometer.The study was published in the Journal of Optics and was selected as an editor's selection.LHR is renowned for its high sensitivity and...

    2023-10-25
    See translation