Writing ink-promoted synthesis of electrodes with high energy storage performance: A review

摘要

As the low-cost commercial product, writing inks(pen ink and Chinese ink) have attracted great attention to fabricate electrochemical electrodes for supercapacitors(SCs) and batteries. Due to the conductive nature deriving from graphitic carbon nanoparticles in ink and strong adhesion, ink can be easily coated onto support to enhance the conductivity, form a porous layer facilitating electrolyte ion diffusion, increase the specific surface area and function as binder and dispersant for other active materials. In this review,the beneficial features of pen ink and Chinese ink are summarized and how these features favor the electrochemical performance is discussed in details. And then, ways to coat ink onto support are described,giving a clear understanding of recent process in this area. Finally, the current challenges and outlook of ink-based electrode are discussed, aiming to offer some basic knowledge and promote wide application and future study of pen ink and Chinese ink in electrochemistry.