LIOVIX® Printable Lithium Technology for Lithium Anode Manufacturing at Scale

Abstract

The commercialization of lithium metal batteries requires the mass production of cost-effective thin lithium metal foil with thickness less than 30 µm. However, today’s known technologies are not yet commercially available. For example, thin lithium metal foil can be produced by hydraulic extrusion followed by a rolling process. This process usually requires a delicate balance between the pressure and tension created by both extruder and winder, so that the resulting foil is not torn or stretched, retaining all the dimensional characteristics required. This process can be extremely challenging when making lithium metal films with thickness less 20 µm due to the poor mechanical properties of lithium metal. Lithium metal foil can also be produced by physical vapor deposition (PVD). Lithium metal foil produced by PVD process are generally homogenous and have good control in thickness. However, PVD technology requires high vacuum chamber and is slow in the deposition rate, typically in the range of 0.1 to 100 nm s−1, making industrial scale of 20 µm lithium foil very challenging1.Livent has developed LIOVIX®printable lithium technology, a proprietary formulation that combines Stabilized Lithium Metal Powder (SLMP®), rheology modifiers and solvent to produce a stable suspension that can be printed on most common substrates. LIOVIX®printable lithium technology is an enabling technology that can produce thin lithium foil with thickness of 5 µm to 50 µm with no limitation in width, length and at high deposition speed. LIOVIX®enables pattern printing and can be applied to any substrate, for example a prefabricated anode, cathode, current collector, separator, and solid or polymer electrolyte. This technology enables 3D battery printing in a custom form factor shape.In this presentation, we will cover thin lithium foil manufacturing processes using standard industrial equipment and electrochemical performance results.References Acebedo, Begoña, et al. "Current Status and Future Perspective on Lithium Metal Anode Production Methods." Advanced Energy Materials (2023): 2203744.