Monolithic flexible supercapacitors, methods of making and uses thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11017958-B2
Application number	US-201816483679-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 7, 2018
Priority date	Feb 7, 2017
Publication date	May 25, 2021
Grant date	May 25, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed are methods for fabricating supercapacitors (SCs) via vapor printing, specifically oxidative chemical vapor deposition (oCVD). Also disclosed are methods of using the supercapacitors, in particular for energy storage devices and photovoltaics.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for preparing a monolithic flexible supercapacitor comprising:
(i) a porous substrate;
(ii) a gold current collector;
(iii) a pseudo-capacitive material; and
(iv) an ion gel electrolyte;
wherein the method comprises the steps of:
(i) applying a gold current collector to a porous substrate;
(ii) depositing an electrode of a pseudo-capacitive material onto of the gold current collector; and
(iii) drop-casting onto the electrode a homogenous mixture comprising an ionic liquid.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous substrate is a single porous substrate.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous substrate comprises cellulose filter paper or a porous nylon membrane.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising covering each side of the porous substrate with a shadow mask.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the shadow masks comprise paper.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising exposing the substrate to an oCVD precursor mixture, wherein said precursor mixture comprises a monomer selected from the group consisting of EDOT, pyrrole, thiophene, 3-thiopheneacetic acid, and 3-thiopheneethanol; and an oxidant selected from the group consisting of iron(III) chloride, copper(II) chloride, bromine, and vanadium oxytrichloride.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the monomer is EDOT; and the oxidant is FeCl 3 .

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising rinsing the porous substrate with an alcohol solvent.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising treating the porous substrate with O 2 plasma.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising treating the substrate with (3-mercapto-propyl)-trimethoxusilane/isopropanol solution after the substrate is treated with O 2 plasma.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (ii) comprises vapor printing.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the vapor printing is oxidative chemical vapor deposition (oCVD).

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pseudo-capacitive material is poly(3,4-ethylenedioxthiophene) (PEDOT).

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the homogenous mixture further comprises a monomer, a crosslinker, and a thermal initiator.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein:
the ionic liquid is 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([EMIM][BF 4 ]);
the monomer is N, N-dimethylacrylamide (DMAA);
the crosslinker is ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA); and
the thermal initiator is 4,4′-azobis(4-cyanovaleric acid) (ABCVA).

Assignees

• Massachusetts Inst Technology

Inventors

• Liu Andong
• Gleason Karen K
• Kovacik Peter

Classifications

• H10F77/90

  Energy storage means directly associated or integrated with photovoltaic cells, e.g. capacitors integrated with photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H01G11/28

  arranged or disposed on a current collector; Layers or phases between electrodes and current collectors, e.g. adhesives · CPC title

• H01G11/48

  Conductive polymers · CPC title

• H01G11/84

  Processes for the manufacture of hybrid or EDL capacitors, or components thereof · CPC title

• H01G11/56

  Solid electrolytes, e.g. gels; Additives therein · CPC title