Analyzing electrode slurries to optimize cost of lithium-ion battery production using the Bruker minispec
What is in?
There is a growing demand for new manufacturing of Lithiumion batteries (LIBs) that have improved charge lifetimes, energy densities, charge-discharge rates, and safety all while coming at a lower cost. Such improvements are critical as the demand for electric vehicles, large scale stationary power storage systems and consumer electronics continues to grow. The major contributor to a battery’s cost structure is materials and material waste in the production process. Refining methods for the coating process of the electrodes allows the manufacturer to minimize input and waste of expensive material. One of the fundamental steps in improving the performance of LIB’s is optimizing the process for coating the electrodes with electro-chemically active materials. It is important that the coating material is applied to the electrode in an evenly distributed manner. The viscosity and particle distribution of the coating precursor must be optimized to provide the most efficient manufacturing and performance properties for the final battery. The coating precursor is an aqueous suspension and often referred to as slurry.
Here we describe how the Bruker minispec Time Domain NMR (TD-NMR) spectrometer can measure critical physical properties of a slurry and allows manufacturers to optimize the coating process for lithium-ion batteries.