Disclosed is a 3-D printing apparatus. The apparatus includes an ink output module including an ink supply unit having an ink for forming an electrode portion, electrolyte or packaging portion received therein and an ink discharge unit coupled to the ink supply unit; a driving unit having the ink output module mounted thereon to move the ink output module in an X, Y, Z axis direction with respect to a substrate where a supercapacitor or secondary battery will be formed; a dispenser connected to the ink supply unit to supply gas having controlled pressure to the ink supply unit through a gas supply tube and to supply the ink within the ink supply unit through the ink discharge unit; and a controller controlling the output of the ink by transmitting a control command for fabricating the supercapacitor or the secondary battery to the dispenser and the driving unit.

The present invention relates to a carbonaceous material having a silicon element content of less than 200 ppm, a powder conductivity of 10.0 to 22.0 S/cm, a total amount of surface functional groups of 0.22 to 0.36 meq/g, and a pore volume of 0.10 to 0.20 cm.sup.3/g in terms of pores having a pore size of not less than 4 nm as measured by a BJH method.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing an electrode comprising a metal substrate, vertically aligned carbon nanotubes and a metal oxide deposited over the entire length of said vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, said method comprising the following consecutive steps: (a) synthesizing, on a metal substrate, a mat of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes; (b) electrochemically depositing the metal oxide on said carbon nanotubes from an electrolytic solution comprising at least one precursor of said metal oxide and at least one nitrate, said electrochemical deposition being carried out by a chronopotentiometry technique. The present invention also relates to the electrode thus prepared and to the uses thereof.

The present invention is directed to eyectrochromic, supercapacitor yarns and the related fabrics. An electrochromic yarn formed by two interwind threads has been invented. The yarn is electrically isolated by a transparent, uncolored polymer. Each thread is the superposition of three concentric layers. The most internal one, the core, has the function of support and/or conductive layer, the second one is the eiectrochromic layer containing conductive nanoparticies, the third layer is a polymer dielectric blend. The yarns described above allows to generate electrochromic fabrics in which the colour can be varied by the application of small electric voltages fed by a battery with variable power supply controlled by a microprocessor connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth technology. A specific application on the smartphone allows to change the voltage supply to the fabrics, in order to get the desired chromatic change.

A mesoporous, nanocrystalline, metal oxide construct particularly suited for capacitive energy storage that has an architecture with short diffusion path lengths and large surface areas and a method for production are provided. Energy density is substantially increased without compromising the capacitive charge storage kinetics and electrode demonstrates long term cycling stability. Charge storage devices with electrodes using the construct can use three different charge storage mechanisms immersed in an electrolyte: (1) cations can be stored in a thin double layer at the electrode/electrolyte interface (non-faradaic mechanism); (2) cations can interact with the bulk of an electroactive material which then undergoes a redox reaction or phase change, as in conventional batteries (faradaic mechanism); or (3) cations can electrochemically adsorb onto the surface of a material through charge transfer processes (faradaic mechanism).

Electrically-conductive articles are provided that include a current collector having a conductive coating. The current collector has nanoporous structure, such as that from etched metal, and a carbon coating in contact with the current collector. The carbon coating is free of binder. In some embodiments, the current collector includes etched aluminum. The provided electrically-conductive articles can be electrochemical capacitors or lithium-ion electrochemical cells.

A dielectric material is provided. The dielectric material includes at least one layer of a substantially continuous phase material. The material is selected from the group consisting of an organic, organometallic, or combination thereof in which the substantially continuous phase material has delocalized electrons.

To improve the reliability of a power storage device. A granular active material including carbon is used, and a net-like structure is formed on part of a surface of the granular active material. In the net-like structure, a carbon atom included in the granular active material is bonded to a silicon atom or a metal atom through an oxygen atom. Formation of the net-like structure suppresses reductive decomposition of an electrolyte solution, leading to a reduction in irreversible capacity. A power storage device using the above active material has high cycle performance and high reliability.

A method for preparing a niobium, titanium or vanadium metal oxide nanostructured material is provided. The method comprises providing an aqueous reagent comprising (i) a soluble metal oxalate, and/or (ii) oxalic acid and a metal oxide precursor, adding a buffering agent to the aqueous reagent to form a mixture, and heating the mixture under hydrothermal conditions to obtain the metal oxide nanostructured material. The metal oxide nanostructured material may also be doped with a dopant metal such as titanium to enhance capacity and cycling stability. An electrode comprising the metal oxide nanostructured material, and an electrochemical cell containing the electrode are also provided.

In a method for manufacturing an energy storage device by applying welding to a container of the energy storage device, the method includes: arranging a jig on which wall surfaces are formed between two parts to be welded to which welding is applied; and welding the two parts to be welded while supplying a shield gas to the two parts to be welded from two different directions corresponding to the two parts to be welded.