Rechargeable power cells

1. A rechargeable power device, comprising:

a plurality of supercapacitors arranged in a substantially planar array such that physical gaps are present between each supercapacitor of the array of supercapacitors;

at least one rechargeable battery; and

control electronics arranged to couple the supercapacitors to the at least one rechargeable battery so as to charge the rechargeable battery, and to couple the supercapacitors to output management electronics so as to supply power to an external device.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the supercapacitors operate as a rechargeable secondary cell.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the supercapacitors comprise electrodes containing high surface area functional materials.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one rechargeable battery comprises an anode and cathode, each of the anode and cathode arranged on flexible, semi-flexible or rigid current collector substrates.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the control electronics are arranged to direct charge from the at least one rechargeable battery to said output management electronics.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the control electronics are arranged to supply power to the external device from either the supercapacitors, or the at least one rechargeable battery.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the control electronics are arranged to:

rapidly charge the supercapacitors from an external power supply; and

charge more slowly, from the plurality of supercapacitors, the at least one rechargeable battery.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the control electronics are arranged to:

rapidly charge the supercapacitors; and

simultaneously charge the at least one rechargeable battery;

wherein the supercapacitors and at least one rechargeable battery are charged from an external power supply.

9. A method of manufacturing a rechargeable power device, comprising:

forming one or more supercapacitors;

printing at least one rechargeable battery; and

forming control electronics arranged to couple the one or more supercapacitors to the at least one rechargeable battery; wherein:

printing the at least one rechargeable battery comprises printing at least one anode and at least one cathode on current collector substrates in an air environment; and

wherein the cathode is printed from a slurry comprising an aqueous binder system.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one rechargeable battery is printed using at least one of screen printing, ink-jet printing, flexographic printing, stencil printing, and rotogravure printing.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the anode is printed from a slurry comprising an aqueous binder system and at least one of Ni, Zn, or Al.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the slurry from which the cathode is printed further comprises at least one of α-MnO 2 , λ-MnO 2 , TiO 2 , todorokite, zinc-hexacyanoferrate, copper-hexacyanoferrate, spinel-Mn 2 O 4 , nickel-hexacyanoferrate, aerogels, V 2 O 5 , aerogels, graphite, graphene, carbon nanotubes, oxygen containing perovskite compounds, clays, and talc.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more supercapacitors are formed by printing.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more supercapacitors are printed using at least one of screen printing, ink-jet printing, flexographic printing, stencil printing and rotogravure printing.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein electrodes of the one or more supercapacitors are formed by blending high surface area functional materials with an aqueous binder system to form a slurry, and printing the slurry on metallic or non-metallic current collector substrates to form printed electrodes.

16. The method of claim 9 , undertaken using roll-to-roll or batch manufacturing processes.