Scalable Dry Processing of Binder-Free Lithium-Ion Battery Electrodes Enabled by Holey Graphene

Abstract

To address the multitude of issues that accompany wet electrode fabrication techniques, composite lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrodes composed of solely active components (active battery material and conductive additive) are fabricated using a scalable and eco-friendly dry processing method known as dry pressing. To accomplish this, a nanoporous carbon allotrope (i.e., holey graphene or hG) acts as the compressible and conductive matrix to accommodate incompressible cathode and anode battery powders. The inherent nanoporosity facilitates the escape of trapped gases upon compression, enabling the successful formation of binderless and solventless composite electrodes independent of selected active battery powder, fabrication pressure, or pressing time. Dry pressed LIB electrodes fabricated with different processing parameters (e.g., hydraulic pressure, pressing time) are evaluated structurally and electrochemically using a model cathode material (lithium iron phosphate, LFP) in order to demonstrate the potential of dry pressing as a viable LIB electrode manufacturing method.

Thick Electrode Batteries: Principles, Opportunities, and Challenges

“…To address this issue, pore engineering has been a strategy adopted by various research groups toward improving the charge transfer kinetics of stacked graphene structures . Most recently, Duan and coworkers reported a 3D holey‐graphene (HGF)/niobia (Nb 2 O 5 ) composite electrode with a hierarchically porous structure .…”

Advanced Matrixes for Binder‐Free Nanostructured Electrodes in Lithium‐Ion Batteries

“…Another promising technology proposed by Kirsch et al [ 278 ] is dry processing method in order to make binder‐free nanostructured electrodes into large‐scale production. This method is enabled by a nanoporous carbon allotrope (i.e., holey graphene) acting as the compressible and conductive matrix to accommodate incompressible electrode active materials.…”

“…Then, the mixture is cold pressed into a self‐supported composite which is directly used as a binder‐free electrode in LIBs. Inspired by this dry processing approach, Kirsch et al [ 278 ] come up with a dubbed dry roll‐to‐roll manufacturing process from an industrial processing perspective. This version of the proposed dry processing technique is advantageous in terms of its universality and scalability.…”

A novel and fast method to prepare a Cu-supported α-Sb2S3@CuSbS2binder-free electrode for sodium-ion batteries

“…Carbon materials such as graphite, graphene, and carbon nanober/nanotube oen serve as the current collector to bear active material for avoiding the use of binders. [19][20][21] Another effective solution is to deposit the active material directly on the current collector by electrochemical deposition or chemical deposition, and then to form an integrated electrode without binder. [22][23][24] In contrast, as a common preparation process for polycrystalline thin-lm, closed-space sublimation (CCS) method has the characteristics of simple method, short time, and low cost.…”