Electronic products are becoming lighter and more diverse, and battery types need to be lighter. Recently, the technology of 3D printing to make batteries has attracted much attention. Recently, the Korean Research Institute of Chemistry (KRICT) has reported a good news and successfully developed battery materials for 3D printing. The raw material comes from cheap nickel, which is expected to be widely used in portable devices such as the Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, and wearable devices.
The Korean economy quoted KRICT's news that the KRICT research team successfully developed materials for the current collectors of the core parts of secondary batteries.
In particular, the 3D printing battery is known as the super capacitor (EDLC) battery, which is equipped with the current collector material developed by the KRICT research group. Supercapacitor batteries have the advantages of simple structure and long life, and are suitable for driving energy for cutting-edge products such as sensors, Internet of Things, and wearable devices.
In fact, batteries are mainly composed of current collectors, electrodes, and electrolytes. If you want to manufacture batteries through 3D printing technology, you must have corresponding 3D printing ink materials. In the field of 3D printing, although the research on electrode and electrolyte materials is quite active, the development of current collectors has been the slowest. Although carbon nanotubes or silver nanofibers have been used to make 3D printing materials, it is difficult to balance performance or voltage stability.
The KRICT research team used nano- and micro-sized nickel particles, mixed with a small amount of polymer materials, and developed metal ink materials for 3D printing, taking into account the conductivity and high voltage stability of the whole battery.
Using this ink material for printing and illuminating in a very short time (1/100,000 seconds) can connect the nano- and micro-sized nickel particles in the ink to enhance conductivity. At the same time, the polymer material produces a photodecomposition phenomenon. The nickel particles will receive electrons from other particles, generate a reduction reaction, and generate a conductive protective layer on the surface to help maintain high voltage stability. Under the highest voltage (3V) of the super capacitor battery, it can still maintain a stable state for a long time.
In particular, the main material of this technology is nickel particles at low prices, and it can adjust the particles in the ink and control the viscosity of the ink, which is conducive to making batteries of various shapes.