Additive manufacturing for energy storage: Methods, designs and materials selection for customizable 3D printed batteries and supercapacitors

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in 3D printing of energy storage devices, emphasizing methods, designs, and material choices that enable customizable batteries and supercapacitors with complex structures.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of current 3D printing techniques, materials, and design considerations specific to electrochemical energy storage devices.

Findings

3D printing enables complex, customizable energy storage device geometries.

Material selection critically influences electrochemical performance and stability.

Recent advances have expanded the design possibilities for batteries and supercapacitors.

Abstract

Additive manufacturing and 3D printing in particular have the potential to revolutionize existing fabrication processes where objects with complex structures and shapes can be built with multifunctional material systems. For electrochemical energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors, 3D printing methods allows alternative form factors to be conceived based on the end use application need in mind at the design stage. Additively manufactured energy storage devices require active materials and composites that are printable and this is influenced by performance requirements and the basic electrochemistry. The interplay between electrochemical response, stability, material type, object complexity and end use application are key to realising 3D printing for electrochemical energy storage. Here, we summarise recent advances and highlight the important role of methods, designs and material selection for energy storage devices made by 3D printing, which is general to the majority of methods in use currently.