New generation 3D printed on-chip energy storage devices

3D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing technology, has received explosive attention from both industry and research areas [1], It is also esteemed as the key technology for Industry 4.0 [2], Compared with the traditional subtractive manufacturing process where 3D objects are fabricated by using the material removal processes, 3D printing fabrication process is to build up an object through layer by layer drop-on-demand printing process [1], Therefore, the advantages of the 3D printing process include ease of fabrication of common and special objects, energy and raw materials saving, low cost for small quantity prototype production [3, 4]. A general 3D printing process starts with a creation of 3D virtual model of the object, followed by slices into several layers with the cross section of the entire object [1], Finally, the materials are deposited following the sequencing of such 2D layers on top of the other 2D layers until the whole object created/printed. There are several kinds of 3D printing processes have been developed until now, such as fused deposition modeling (FDM), stereolithography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS), laminated object manufacturing (LOM) and direct ink writing (DIW) etc [5]. 3D printing technology is now widely used in various areas, such as industry prototype, education, art, medical, vehicles and construction. This paper mainly focuses on the development of printed microsupercapacitors and lithium ion batteries (LIBs) in the worldwide and our group, and the prospective research in the future.