Manufacturing carbon fabric composite structural batteries using spray with high-pressure and high-temperature and vacuum-bag assisted infusion techniques

Abstract

This paper introduces a strategy for manufacturing composite structural batteries, integrating the dual roles of energy storage and load-bearing functionality. In the manufacturing process, both cathodes and anodes were produced by coating electrode materials on woven carbon fabrics via high-pressure and high-temperature spray method. A modified vacuum-bag assisted technique was employed to infuse electrolytes and assemble entire battery cells. Scanning electron microscopy was utilized to observe that the active electrode particles were effectively dispersed throughout the woven carbon fabrics. Electrochemical characterization demonstrated that the fabricated batteries could achieve a high energy density of 34.12 Wh/kg with benign rate performance and high Coulombic efficiency. Meanwhile, uniaxial tensile tests illustrated that the structural batteries had an ultimate tensile strength of 118.70 MPa and Young's modulus of 13.07 GPa along the yarn direction. Bias-extension experiments indicated that the shear modulus and yield strength were 2.87 GPa and 20.82 MPa, respectively. These results suggest that the multifunctional efficiency of the manufactured structural batteries was over 1, validating the effectiveness of the proposed manufacturing approach for composite structural batteries.