Synthesis of Ti3C2Tx nonmaterial Ink for Additive Manufacturing of Energy Storage Devices

Wearable electronics demands the accelerated development of flexible energy storage devices to enable portability and avoid complex wiring. Additive electronics manufacturing is a promising technique for designing lightweight and flexible electronic devices such as sensors and energy storage devices, with complex geometries and low processing costs. However, the lack of multifunctional nanomaterial inks and availability of diverse materials are limiting factors for on demand printing, and selection of the material is a crucial step of the process, as the performance of the printed device is strongly dependent on the design, material, printing method, and post printing process. Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials are highly attractive for energy storage applications due to multifaced properties and high surface area. Recently, MXenes, transition metal carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides have gained considerable interest in energy conversion and storage applications due to their excellent electrical conductivity, rich surface chemistry, thermal conductivity, hydrophilicity, and superior dispersibility in various solvents. Aerosol Jet printing (AJP) is a promising technique for additive electronics manufacturing and is influenced by various variables, including carrier gas flow rate, sheath gas flow rate, nozzle diameter, and atomization frequency. Additionally, AJP ink development requires tuning the ink rheology including viscosity, surface tension, and solid loading to obtain suitable fluid dynamic parameters for jetting the ink. This work demonstrates the synthesis, characterization, and formulation of Ti3C2Tx nanomaterial MXene ink for additive electronic manufacturing techniques. We Synthesize titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx) from titanium aluminum carbide (Ti3AlC2) using the minimally intensive layered delamination (MILD) method. The resultant nanoparticles are characterized, formulated, and printed using the AJP technique. for energy harvesting and storage application. This work will enable the manufacturing of various on-demand electronics devices based on MXene inks using high-resolution AJP techniques, with a specific focus on supercapacitors for energy storage.