Tragacanth, an Exudate Gum as Suitable Aqueous Binder for High Voltage Cathode Material

Abstract

The improvements in future-generation lithium-ion batteries cannot be exclusively focused on the performance. Other aspects, such as costs, processes, and environmental sustainability, must be considered. Research and development of new active materials allow some fundamental aspects of the batteries to be increased, such as power and energy density. However, one of the main future challenges is the improvement of the batteries’ electrochemical performance by using “non-active” materials (binder, current collector, separators) with a lower cost, lower environmental impact, and easier recycling procedure. Focusing on the binder, the main goal is to replace the current fluorinated compounds with water-soluble materials. Starting from these considerations, in this study we evaluate, for the first time, tragacanth gum (TG) as a suitable aqueous binder for the manufacturing process of a cobalt-free, high-voltage lithium nickel manganese oxide (LNMO) cathode. TG-based LNMO cathodes with a low binder content (3 wt%) exhibited good thermal and mechanical properties, showing remarkably high cycling stability with 60% capacity retention after more than 500 cycles at 1 C and an outstanding rate capability of 72 mAh g−1 at 15 C. In addition to the excellent electrochemical features, tragacanth gum also showed excellent recycling and recovery properties, making this polysaccharide a suitable and sustainable binder for next-generation lithium-ion batteries.