Inkjet Printing for Batteries and Supercapacitors: State-of-the-Art Developments and Outlook

Inkjet printing enables contactless deposition onto fragile substrates for printed energy-storage devices and supports flexible batteries and supercapacitors with reduced material use. This review examines multilayer and interdigital architectures and analyzes how ink rheology, droplet formation, colloidal interactions, and the printability window govern performance. For batteries, reported inkjet-printed electrodes commonly deliver capacities of ~110–150 mAh g−1 for oxide cathodes at C/2–1 C, with coulombic efficiency ≥98% and stability over 102–103 cycles; silicon anodes reach ~1.0–2.0 Ah g−1 with efficiency approaching 99% under stepwise formation. Typical current densities are ~0.5–5 mA cm−2 depending on areal loading, and multilayer designs with optimized drying and parameter tuning can yield rate and discharge behavior comparable to cast films. For supercapacitors, inkjet-printed microdevices report volumetric capacitances in the mid-hundreds of F cm−3, translating to ~9–34 mWh cm−3 and ~0.25–0.41 W cm−3, with 80–95% retention after 10,000 cycles and coulombic efficiency near 99%. In solid-state configurations, stability is enhanced, although often accompanied by reduced areal capacitance. Although solids loading is lower than in screen printing, precise material placement together with thermal or photonic sintering enables competitive capacity, rate capability, and cycle life while minimizing waste. The review consolidates practical guidance on ink formulation, printability, and defect control and outlines opportunities in greener chemistries, oxidation-resistant metallic systems, and scalable high-throughput printing.