(Invited) Structured Electrode Manufacturing for Next-Generation Lithium-Ion Batteries
Authors: Cobb Corie Lynn 
Published: August 2024

Achieving high-energy and high-power density Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with fast charging capabilities is critical to advancing electric vehicle (EV) and portable electronic technologies. Long-range, fast charge EVs and more compact portable electronics require significant advances in battery performance, lifetime, and cost. Conventional LIBs are composed of flat anode and cathode electrode stacks that can be optimized for energy or power, but not both concurrently. This is due to ion transport limitations that persist with increases in electrode thickness. Several research efforts have focused on optimizing LIB performance through material innovations with lithium metal and silicon anodes or new cathode materials, to name a few. Structured Electrode (SE) designs1 have been investigated over the last couple of decades as an alternate solution to address these challenges. SEs engineer electrode materials into different three-dimensional (3D) architectures on a scale ranging from tens to hundreds of microns to facilitate rapid ion-transport in thicker electrodes. While a promising concept, reliable and scalable manufacturing methods for fabricating SEs over the large and complex areas needed for EV and portable electronic applications remains limited.

This talk covers manufacturing approaches investigated by our research group to fabricate SEs rapidly and efficiently. Both computational design and experimental approaches are employed to facilitate the development of new hardware, software, and processing techniques for SEs. Specifically, we highlight Additive Manufacturing (AM) tools for portable electronic applications and the use of acoustophoresis for manufacturing EV SEs. First, we have developed new computational fabrication tools2 and material formulations to push the bounds of AM for SE fabrication. Through this work, we investigate the impact of electrode design and fabrication on the rate capability and charge performance of Li4Ti5O12 and LiFePO4 cells. Next, taking AM towards larger area fabrication, we have combined acoustophoresis with AM principles to facilitate large-area printing and patterning of SEs for LIBs.3 Acoustophoresis utilizes acoustic standing wavesto drive particles into predefined patterns, with micron-scale control at time scales < 1 second. Our initial results with LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 and graphite have defined process conditions that enable acoustophoretic fabrication of SEs with improved rate capability over conventional, flat LIB electrodes. Our work highlights the material and processing considerations that must be given when developing new manufacturing processes for SEs.

References

C.-H. Hung, P. Huynh, K. Teo, and C.L. Cobb, “Are Three-dimensional Batteries Beneficial? Analyzing Historical Data to Elucidate Performance Advantages,” ACS Energy Letters, 8 (1), pp. 296–305, 2023.

F. Fossdal, V. Nguyen, R. Heldal, C.L. Cobb, and N. Peek, “Vespidae: A Programming Framework for Developing Digital Fabrication Workflows,” In Proc. of 2023 Designing Interactive Systems Conference, ACM, New York, NY, USA.

K.E. Johnson, D.S. Melchert, E.N. Armstrong, Daniel S. Gianola, C.L. Cobb, M.R. Begley, “A Simple, Validated Approach for Design of Two-dimensional Periodic Particle Patterns via Acoustophoresis,” Materials & Design, Vol. 232, 112165, 2023.

Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) Award Numbers DE-EE0009112 and DE-EE0010226. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.

This work was funded in part by a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award and Director's Fellowship under grant number D19AP00038. The views, opinions, and findings expressed in this work are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government, and no official endorsement should be inferred. This is approved for public release and distribution is unlimited.