Issue 5, 2024

Additive manufacturing of LiCoO2 electrodes via vat photopolymerization for lithium ion batteries

Abstract

Additive manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize the fabrication of lithium-ion batteries for a diversity of applications including in portable, biomedical, aerospace, and the transportation fields. Standard commercial batteries consist of stacked layers of various components (current collectors, cathode, anode, separator and electrolyte) in a two-dimensional manner. By leveraging the latest advances in additive manufacturing and computer-aided design, an improved geometric and electrochemical configuration of these batteries can maximize energy efficiency while allowing design optimization to reduce dead space for a given application. In this work, a composite UV photosensitive resin was prepared and used as feedstock in a vat photopolymerization system. The resin was loaded with LiCoO2 acting as electrochemically active material for the cathode of a lithium-ion battery, and was further improved with the addition of conductivity-enhancing carbonaceous additives. Challenges to additive manufacturing arise from the opacity and high viscosity of the composite nature of these electrochemically-active resins, which cause light refraction during selective UV curing. Subsequently, items were printed and subjected to a thermal post-processing step to obtain an adequate compromise between electrochemical performance and mechanical integrity. Both sintered and green state 3D printed cathodes were assembled into half-cell lithium-ion batteries using lithium metal as a reference and counter electrode. Electrochemical cycling of these batteries yielded satisfactory results approaching commercial LiCoO2 cathodes’ performance, with the potential advantages of additive manufacturing – high surface area anode–cathode configurations for power performance as well as shape conformability.

Graphical abstract: Additive manufacturing of LiCoO2 electrodes via vat photopolymerization for lithium ion batteries

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 1 2024
Accepted
11 4 2024
First published
24 4 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Energy Adv., 2024,3, 1009-1018

Additive manufacturing of LiCoO2 electrodes via vat photopolymerization for lithium ion batteries

A. C. Martinez, A. P. Aranzola, E. Schiaffino, E. MacDonald and A. Maurel, Energy Adv., 2024, 3, 1009 DOI: 10.1039/D4YA00011K

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