Efficient 3D Printed Pseudocapacitive Electrodes with Ultrahigh MnO2 Loading

Summary

Retaining sound electrochemical performance of electrodes at high mass loading holds significant importance to energy storage. Pseudocapacitive materials such as manganese oxide (MnO₂) deposited on current collectors have achieved outstanding gravimetric capacitances, sometimes even close to their theoretical values. Yet, this is only achievable with very small mass loading of active material typically less than 1 mg cm⁻². Increasing mass loading often leads to drastic decay of capacitive performance due to sluggish ion diffusion in bulk material. Here, we demonstrate a 3D printed graphene aerogel electrode with MnO₂ loading of 182.2 mg cm⁻², which achieves a record-high areal capacitance of 44.13 F cm⁻². Most importantly, this 3D printed graphene aerogel/MnO₂ electrode can simultaneously achieve excellent capacitance normalized to area, gravimetry, and volume, which is the trade-off for most electrodes. This work successfully validates the feasibility of printing practical pseudocapacitive electrodes, which might revolutionize pseudocapacitor fabrication.