Utilizing bioprinting for hydrogel-based electric double-layer capacitor fabrication

The mass production and use of Li batteries have raised serious concerns about their impact on the environment. Supercapacitors are an alternative energy storage device. This paper addresses a new approach to fabricating supercapacitors using the BioX6 Bioprinter from Cellink. A series of experiments were conducted to derive a conductive bioink capable of being implemented as a viable material for energy storage devices. This bioink in conjunction with a gel electrolyte was utilized for the fabrication of supercapacitors in a planar structure. This study utilizes the VersaStat 4 Potentiostat to measure each capacitors’ response. Devices with capacitances as high as 53.52 µF were fabricated and tested. The results of this study show the feasibility of using the bioprinting method for fabricating prototype storage devices.