Researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) have unveiled a new 3D printing technique for producing glass micro-supercapacitors (MSCs) that significantly reduces the complexity and time required to form the nanoscale structures. These advances could lead to more compact and energy-efficient wearable devices, including self-supporting sensors, wearables and other Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
The lead author of the study, Po-Han Huang, explains: “Our findings represent a significant leap forward in microfabrication, with broad implications for the development of high-performance energy storage devices. Beyond MSCs, our approach has exciting potential applications in fields such as optical communication, nanoelectromechanical sensors and 5D optical data storage.”
The researchers demonstrated their technique by 3D printing microsupercapacitors, which showed high performance even with fast charging and discharging cycles.
The implications of this research are also relevant for existing technologies. Supercapacitors are already being used to store energy during braking, to stabilize power supplies in consumer electronics and to optimize energy generation from renewable sources. “Micro-supercapacitors have the potential to make these applications more compact and efficient”, said Frank Niklaus, professor of micro- and nanosystems at KTH.
These developments at KTH underline the potential of 3D printing to realize advanced energy storage solutions and further increase the performance of modern, networked devices.
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