Additive manufacturing of LiCoO 2 electrodes via vat photopolymerization for lithium ion batteries

• Published in: Energy advances Vol. 3; no. 5; pp. 1009 - 1018
• Main Authors: Martinez, Ana C., Aranzola, Ana P., Schiaffino, Eva, MacDonald, Eric, Maurel, Alexis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 16-05-2024
• ISSN: 2753-1457; 2753-1457
• DOI: 10.1039/D4YA00011K

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 LiCoO
2
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 LiCoO
2
cathodes’ performance, with the potential advantages of additive manufacturing – high surface area anode–cathode configurations for power performance as well as shape conformability.