Towards 3D Printed Batteries: A Comparative Study between Electrode Fabrication Processes
Authors: Pinilla Sergio , Ryan Sean , Mckeon Lorcan , Coelho João , Nicolosi Valeria 
Published: December 2020

The constant trend in the miniaturization of electronic devices has recently created a demand for more compact but also higher energy density freeform energy storage devices. Current battery production processes are not capable to adapt to the unconventional configurations that the new applications, such as biomedical sensors or micro-electro-mechanical systems, needs to develop.

In this scenario, 3D printing, have attracted significant attention due to the almost unlimited form factors and new architectures achievable, which could increase both energy density and power output of the batteries [1–4].

During the last years, a substantial effort has been done to push forward the application of additive manufacturing for energy storage devices, achieving some impressive advances[5]. However, up to date, there is no systematic study about the performance changes of the electrode materials when we move from traditional techniques to additive manufacturing.

In this work we aim to address these differences correlating the electrochemical performance with the inner arrangement of the material and resistances/limitations that arouse in each type of electrode.

The selected fabrication techniques were ranging from standard methods such as slurry casting or vacuum filtration, to novel 3D printing techniques as direct ink writing and aerosol jet printing. The active material selected was a mixture of LTO with carbon nanotubes which rheological properties could be easily adapted to our fabrication techniques without changing the ink formulation. The electrodes were analyzed by galvanostatic charge discharge cycling, chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in half cell configuration as well as by electron microscopy.

It was found that while common fabrication techniques tend to form segregated networks[6] in the in-plane direction, 3D printing techniques introduce differences in the network arrangement. The performance differences were evaluated by their rate response, which were fitted to quantitatively analyze the relationship between rate and conductivity[7]. Furthermore, it was also shown that despite that the 3D fabricated electrodes display lower performance in planar shapes, they can be engineered to take advantage of their fabrication flexibility.

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