Screen printed monolithic supercapacitor with talc and cellulose fiber separator

In this work, we demonstrate a fully screen printed supercapacitor (SC) with a monolithic structure. The monolithic SCs were prepared by screen printing different SC layers on top of each other. After the layers were printed, an aqueous electrolyte was added to the screen printed separator, and the printed structure was sealed. The prepared monolithic SCs showed similar electrical characteristics to a face-to-face laminated stacked SC with a paper separator. Interfaces between the screen printed SC layers were observed with a scanning electron microscope. Results show that the screen printing process is reproducible and can be used to fabricate SCs reliably. This fabrication process also eliminates an assembly step that is common in laminated stacked SCs. Hence the introduced screen printing process shows feasible and scalable fabrication for the monolithic SCs. Advanced fabrication of the printed monolithic SCs can benefit different applications, such as wireless sensor devices with environmentally sustainable energy storage units, and the integration of an energy storage unit on the same substrate with the printed circuits. • Development of a printable separator enables layer-by-layer fabrication. • Monolithic supercapacitors fabricated using screen printing. • Fully printed supercapacitor based on sustainable and non-harmful materials.