MacKenzie, Devin J.Ma, Taichong2021-10-292021-10-292021Ma_washington_0250E_23550.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/1773/48060Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2021Flexible thin batteries are an essential component of emerging thin, flexible and wearable electronics. In this work a completely printed thin film zinc-air battery has been demonstrated for the first time via a layer-by-layer monolithic additive process without electrolyte filling after cell fabrication. This monolithic process was enabled by the high thermal stability and low vapor pressure of the sold ionic liquid electrolyte films. These printed thin film batteries exhibited high volumetric capacities of 200 AhL-1 as compared to commercially-available thin film lithium polymer batteries and represents, as far as the authors are aware, the highest areal capacity (2.0mAh cm-2) for any cells with thicknesses below 160 µm.1 For batteries below 500 µm in total thickness, an aerial capacity of 2.4mAh cm-2 is higher than that of other flexible batteries.2,3 The ionic liquid gel-based electrolyte is stable throughout the fabrication process which includes, cumulatively, 90 minutes of heat treatment at 80 Co. Our new DES electrolyte and anode fabrication technique allow us to further reduce the overall thickness and make our battery electrolyte biodegradable. The screen printing and stencil printing tools employed for open-air processing in this study are widely available and scalable to high production throughputs. This additive printing approach could readily be translated to large scale, low cost, and low carbon footprint production of truly thin film batteries to power next generation, low toxicity, sustainable medical devices, wearable electronics and IoT devices.application/pdfen-USCC BY-NC-ND3D PrintingFlexible BatteryRoll-to-roll PrintingZinc-Air BatteryMaterials ScienceEnergyMaterials science and engineeringThesis