The development of next-generation batteries with high
areal and
volumetric energy density requires the use of high active material
mass loading electrodes. This typically reduces the power density,
but the push for rapid charging has propelled innovation in microstructure
design for improved transport and electrochemical conversion efficiency.
This requires accurate effective electrode property estimation, such
as tortuosity, electronic conductivity, and interfacial area. Obtaining
this information solely from experiments and 3D mesoscale simulations
is time-consuming while empirical relations are limited to simplified
microstructure geometry. In this work, we propose an alternate route
for rapid characterization of electrode microstructural effective
properties using machine learning (ML). Using the Li-ion battery graphite
anode electrode as an exemplar system, we generate a comprehensive
data set of ∼17 000 electrode microstructures. These
consist of various shapes, sizes, orientations, and chemical compositions,
and characterize their effective properties using 3D mesoscale simulations.
A low dimensional representation of each microstructure is achieved
by calculating a set of comprehensive physical descriptors and eliminating
redundant features. The mesoscale ML analytics based on porous electrode
microstructural characteristics achieves prediction accuracy of more
than 90% for effective property estimation.