Zinc-manganese dioxide printable batteries and manganese dioxide supercapacitors

Abstract

People have always been making use of modern technology to make lives easier. In 1940s, batteries with hundreds of Leclanche´ cells were placed in series to provide sufficient current for the radios then, making them bulky and heavy[1]. In contrast to those days, people are now able to carry around with them small and portable players with rechargeable batteries with ease. Such convenience was brought about due to the advancements in technology which are evident in our daily lives.

Energy resources and their storage have especially caught many’s attention due to the rapidly depleting fossil fuels and the call for staying environmental friendly. Apart from looking into alternative renewable resources, there are also researches that focus in areas to improve the power densities of current batteries or energy densities of supercapacitors with hopes to replace fossil fuels and meet the requirements of the future systems. The combination of printed technology with nanotechnology has therefore been studied for the fabrication of lightweight and flexible thin batteries with enhanced performance with aims to replace the typical batteries available in the market today.

This report will cover the synthesis and testing of flexible and printable zinc manganese dioxide batteries by printing manganese dioxide with different nanostructures obtained using hydrothermal synthesis via roller printing method.