Abstract
Solid-state batteries employ composite electrodes which contain a solid ion conductor, a solid active material, a conductive additive, and a binder. The electrode microstructure fundamentally differs from electrodes in conventional batteries because the pore region is ion blocking. While there is extensive research on how to integrate a lithium metal with inorganic electrolytes, there is less knowledge on how an electrode can be integrated with an inorganic electrolyte. Solution processing techniques are ideal for scalable manufacturing and rely on creating an ink which combines the solid material, a binder, and solvent. Ink engineering relies on tailoring the fluidics (rheology), aggregation behavior, and stability for a desired coating process. In this work, we systematically probe the role of two ink constituents: the (1) binder, and (2) solvent on electrode microstructure formation. Lithium titanate anodes achieve nearly a 3-4X increase in capacity from 1.5 mAh/g and 3 mAh/g to 9 mAh/g and ≥12 mAh/g when a high viscosity solvent is employed. The binder plays a larger role in dictating performance of the electrode than surface adhesion properties. Inks with well dispersed constituents led to more effective electrodes for charge storage.
Highlights
To cite this article: Fengyu Shen et al 2019 J
There is a growing body of work which describes how to integrate an inorganic electrolyte with lithium metal and less work which describes how to engineer an electrode for a solid-state battery
We study terpineol and polyvinyl butyral (PVB) as alternatives for solvent and binder respectively
Summary
To cite this article: Fengyu Shen et al 2019 J. Electrodes are coated directly onto a current collector or an inorganic electrolyte The latter approach provides lower interfacial resistances between the solid electrolyte and electrode.[18,19] Solution processing techniques rely on dispersing the electrode components in a solvent (i.e. ink) and employing various coating strategies to form the electrode (Fig. 1c).[10] Deposition methods[19,20] as well as co-sintering[21,22] approaches have been employed for composite electrode fabrication. Electrode processing techniques mimic conventional battery (with liquid electrolyte) manufacturing processing This approach does not address the fundamental microstructure differences that exist between conventional and solid-state battery electrodes. Capacity enhancement for solid-state batteries is primarily sought by a range of interfacial engineering strategies These methods are effective, are challenging to scale. Ink composition and its effect on battery performance has been extensively studied for conventional lithium ion batteries.[22,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36]
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