Direct Graphene Deposition via a Modified Laser-Assisted Method for Interdigitated Microflexible Supercapacitors

The transcendence toward smarter technologies and the rapid expansion of the Internet of Things requires miniaturized energy storage systems, which may also be shape-conformable, such as microflexible supercapacitors. Their fabrication must be compatible with emerging manufacturing platforms with regard to scalability and sustainability. Here, we modify a laser-based method we recently developed for simultaneously synthesizing and transferring graphene onto a selected substrate. The modification of the method lies in the tuning of two key parameters, namely, the inclination of the laser beam and the distance between the precursor material and the acceptor substrate. A proper combination of these parameters enables the displacement of the trace of the transmitted laser beam from the deposited graphene film area. This mitigates the negative effects that arise from the laser-induced ablation of graphene on heat-sensitive substrates and significantly improves the electrical conductivity of the graphene films. The optimized graphene exhibits very high C/O (36) and sp(2)/sp(3) (13) ratios. Post-transport irradiation was used to transform the continuous graphene films to interdigitated electrodes. The capacitance of the microflexible supercapacitor was measured to be among the highest reported ones in relation to interdigitated supercapacitors with electrodes based on laser-grown graphene. The device shows good cycling stability, retaining 91% of its capacitance after 10,000 cycles, showing no substantial degradation after applying bending conditions. This promising laser-based approach emerges as a viable alternative for the fabrication of microflexible interdigitated supercapacitors for paper electronics and smart textiles.