Collaborative Research: Battery Electrode Fabrication through Innovative Powder based Additive Manufacturing

合作研究：通过创新粉末增材制造制造电池电极

• 批准号: 1462343
• 负责人: Heng Pan
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Missouri University of Science and Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-04-01 至 2018-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1462343&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Battery; Electrode; Fabrication

Lithium-ion batteries are one of the most widely used batteries due to their high energy density, long cycle life, and low self-discharge. With the rapid development of portable electronics, electrical vehicles, and grid systems, lithium-ion batteries will be more widely employed. However, current slurry based battery electrode manufacturing is costly, preventing wide applications of lithium-ion batteries. The organic solvent typically used in the slurry can be expensive. In addition, a time-consuming and energy-intensive drying procedure has to be employed. The evaporated solvent also needs to be recovered in order to prevent potential environmental pollution. Therefore, it is desirable to have solvent-free battery manufacturing processes. This award supports fundamental research to form the knowledge base for development of solvent-free battery manufacturing processes. Results from this research will enhance the U.S. competence in energy manufacturing industry and benefit the society by providing energy storage solutions. A major technical challenge in developing solvent-free battery manufacturing processes is to homogeneously disperse battery materials including active materials, conductive additives, and binder materials. This research aims to provide the new knowledge needed to overcome this challenge: (1) interfacial properties of the battery materials, (2) binder distribution characteristics during battery powder mixing, and (3) molten binder wettability and spreading kinetics on other materials during binder melting. The research team will perform multi-scale simulations (molecular dynamics at nanometer scale, finite difference modeling at micrometer scale, and discrete element modeling at micrometer to millimeter scales) to predict interfacial properties, binder spatial distribution after mixing, and molten binder spreading characteristics and surface coverages. Simulation results will be verified by surface energy measurements of dry powders and scanning electron microscopic observations of binder distributions after the powder mixing and binder melting steps respectively.

锂离子电池是使用高能量密度，较长的循环寿命和低自我电荷的电池之一。随着便携式电子，电动车辆和网格系统的快速开发，锂离子电池将被更广泛地使用。但是，当前基于浆料的电池电极制造是昂贵的，可以防止锂离子电池的广泛应用。浆液中通常使用的有机溶剂可能很昂贵。此外，必须采用耗时和能源密集型的干燥程序。还需要回收蒸发的溶剂，以防止潜在的环境污染。因此，希望拥有无溶剂的电池制造工艺。该奖项支持基础研究，以构成开发无溶剂电池制造过程的知识库。这项研究的结果将增强美国在能源制造业的能力，并通过提供储能解决方案来使社会受益。开发无溶剂的电池制造过程的主要技术挑战是均匀地分散电池材料，包括活性材料，导电添加剂和粘合剂材料。这项研究旨在提供克服这一挑战所需的新知识：（1）电池材料的界面特性，（2）电池粉末混合过程中的粘合剂分布特性，以及（3）熔融粘合剂的可湿性并在粘合剂熔化过程中在其他材料上传播动力学。研究团队将执行多尺度模拟（纳米尺度上的分子动力学，微米尺度上的有限差模型，以及在千分钟到毫米尺度的离散元素建模），以预测界面特性，混合后的粘合剂空间分布以及熔融的binder binder binder spranticals sprantives和表面覆盖。在粉末混合和粘合剂熔化步骤后，干粉的表面能量测量和扫描电子显微镜观察将通过表面能量测量和扫描电子显微镜观测来验证仿真结果。