Faculty of Science and Engineering, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester M15 GD, UK.
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
Sci Rep. 2017 Mar 3;7:42233. doi: 10.1038/srep42233.
3D printing technology provides a unique platform for rapid prototyping of numerous applications due to its ability to produce low cost 3D printed platforms. Herein, a graphene-based polylactic acid filament (graphene/PLA) has been 3D printed to fabricate a range of 3D disc electrode (3DE) configurations using a conventional RepRap fused deposition moulding (FDM) 3D printer, which requires no further modification/ex-situ curing step. To provide proof-of-concept, these 3D printed electrode architectures are characterised both electrochemically and physicochemically and are advantageously applied as freestanding anodes within Li-ion batteries and as solid-state supercapacitors. These freestanding anodes neglect the requirement for a current collector, thus offering a simplistic and cheaper alternative to traditional Li-ion based setups. Additionally, the ability of these devices' to electrochemically produce hydrogen via the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) as an alternative to currently utilised platinum based electrodes (with in electrolysers) is also performed. The 3DE demonstrates an unexpectedly high catalytic activity towards the HER (-0.46 V vs. SCE) upon the 1000th cycle, such potential is the closest observed to the desired value of platinum at (-0.25 V vs. SCE). We subsequently suggest that 3D printing of graphene-based conductive filaments allows for the simple fabrication of energy storage devices with bespoke and conceptual designs to be realised.
3D 打印技术因其能够生产低成本的 3D 打印平台，为众多应用提供了快速原型制作的独特平台。在此，已经 3D 打印了一种基于石墨烯的聚乳酸长丝（石墨烯/PLA），以使用传统的 RepRap 熔丝制造（FDM）3D 打印机制造一系列 3D 盘状电极（3DE）配置，而无需进一步修改/原位固化步骤。为了提供概念验证，这些 3D 打印电极结构在电化学和物理化学方面均进行了表征，并有利地用作锂离子电池中的独立阳极和固态超级电容器。这些独立的阳极无需集流器，因此为传统的基于锂离子的设置提供了简单且更便宜的替代方案。此外，这些设备通过析氢反应（HER）电化学产生氢气的能力（相对于 SCE 的-0.46V）也替代了目前在电催化剂中使用的基于铂的电极。3DE 在第 1000 次循环时对 HER 表现出出人意料的高催化活性（相对于 SCE 的-0.46V），这种潜力是最接近目标值的铂（相对于 SCE 的-0.25V）。我们随后建议，基于石墨烯的导电长丝的 3D 打印允许实现具有定制和概念设计的储能设备的简单制造。
