A cost effective and reliable technology for the fabrication of electrochemical test-cell arrays for battery materials research, based on batch-fabricated glass micro packages was developed and tested. Jet dispensing was investigated for the first time as a process for fabricating battery electrode arrays and separators and compared to micro dispense printing. The process shows the reproducibility over the whole range of investigated materials and battery cell structures that is required for battery materials research. Such setup gives rise to a significantly improved reliability and reproducibility of electrochemical experiments. Cost-effective fabrication of our test chips by batch processing allows for their single-use in electrochemical experiments, thereby preventing contamination issues due to repeated use as in conventional laboratory test cells. In addition, the integration of micro pseudo reference electrodes is demonstrated. Thus, the test cell array together with the developed electrode/electrolyte deposition technology provide a highly efficient tool for speedy combinatorial and high throughput testing of battery materials on a system level (full cell tests). Experimental results are shown for the microfabrication of lithium-ion test cells with help of several electrode and binder materials. The influence of jetting parameters on electrode lateral dimensions and thickness, reproducibility of the electrode mass as well as the use of integrated micro-reference electrodes for impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry measurements in micro cells are presented in detail.
For the first time, electrophoretic deposition (EPD) has been employed to prepare a self-supported, inorganic membrane consisting of SiO 2 nano-fibers, as a separator for lithium-ion batteries. The SiO 2 nano-fibers that were fabricated by a lowcost force spinning technique were deposited by EPD directly onto LiNi 0.8 Co 0.15 Al 0.05 O 2 cathode material. Citric acid charging agent and anhydrous acetone solvent were used. The resulting porosity and tortuosity of the EPD SiO 2 separator were 71.42 %, and 1.70, respectively. The slightly higher tortuosity of the EPD-SiO 2 -fiber separator (60 μm) led to a lower rate capability in comparison to commercial GF/A glass fiber separator (260 μm). On the other hand, the latter exhibited lower self-discharge than the former in full-cells with a graphite anode; this is proposed to be related to the different purities of the two materials that impart different electronic properties or the presence of 20 wt % PVDF in the EPD-SiO 2 separator. Indeed, the deposited membrane has good characteristics as a battery separator and the EPD process is extremely feasible for the fabrication of miniaturized lithium-ion batteries on wafer level.[a] Dr.
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