Dry mixing of cathode composite powder for all-solid-state batteries using a high-shear mixer

Abstract

All-solid-state lithium-ion batteries (ASSLIBs) are promising candidates for next-generation batteries because of their various attractive properties. The uniform mixing of active materials (AMs) and solid electrolytes (SEs) is important for high-performance ASSLIBs. However, most AMs and SEs have poor flowability owing to their small particle size, which makes it difficult to uniformly mix the AM and SE particles. This study is focused on a high-shear mixer (HSM) as a scalable method to uniformly mix the AM and SE particles. The objective of this study is to determine the optimal operating conditions for HSM and its effectiveness in AM-SE mixing. The higher rotating speed of the chopper caused uniform SE dispersion by deagglomerating the SE particles and improving the adhesion of SE onto the AM particles, affording an electrode with well-balanced electrical/ionic conductivity and lower internal resistance. The ASSLIB with this electrode exhibited lower electrode polarization and excellent rate and cycle performance. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that the HSM could lead to a more uniform SE dispersion than conventional lab-scale mixing methods, resulting in significantly improved battery performance. Moreover, insights into the process-homogeneity-performance relations have been obtained.