RETRACTED ARTICLE: Printed wearable lithium-ion electrodes with high electrochemical performance as portable batteries

Self-support flexible lithium-ion battery is one of crucial members of smart materials. In this work, a textile-structured battery was made by extrusion 3D printing technology, using a viscosity modifier (a high concentration of polyvinylidene fluoride), a conductive agent (carbon nanotube) and active electrode materials (i.e. lithium iron phosphate or lithium titanate). We prepared a printable ink (viscosity 105 Pa s), followed by rheological properties examinations. The ink shows significant shear thinning behavior, and storage modulus value reaches a high level (105 Pa). The excellent rheological properties are proved as beneficial to printing and solidification process. Additionally, electrochemical test results indicate printed electrodes exhibit stable and well-matched charge and discharge specific capacity, the successfully soft-packed lithium-ion battery displays a discharge specific capacity up to 108 mAh g⁻¹. Even after bending, the discharge specific capacity is about 111 mAh g⁻¹. Further experiments reveal outstanding electrochemical properties open up new possibility for smart wearable electronics applications.