Strategies and Challenge of Thick Electrodes for Energy Storage: A Review

Abstract

In past years, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) can be found in every aspect of life, and batteries, as energy storage systems (ESSs), need to offer electric vehicles (EVs) more competition to be accepted in markets for automobiles. Thick electrode design can reduce the use of non-active materials in batteries to improve the energy density of the batteries and reduce the cost of the batteries. However, thick electrodes are limited by their weak mechanical stability and poor electrochemical performance; these limitations could be classified as the critical cracking thickness (CCT) and the limited penetration depth (LPD). The understanding of the CCT and the LPD have been proposed and the recent works on breaking the CCT and improving the LPD are listed in this article. By comprising these attempts, some thick electrodes could not offer higher mass loading or higher accessible areal capacity that would defeat the purpose.

Practical Cell Design for PTMA-Based Organic Batteries: an Experimental and Modeling Study

“…Furthermore, an increase of the solid content in the slurry from 40% to 45% resulted in electrodes up to 9.65 mg cm –2 and theoretical areal capacity >1 mAh cm –2 . These PTMA-based electrodes had a thickness of ∼150 μm, which is a relatively high value even compared to commercial lithium-ion battery electrodes (30–80 μm range) . To the best of our knowledge, these PTMA electrodes offer the highest areal loading for lithium-based battery with organic electrolyte (see Table S7 in the Supporting Information for a detailed comparison with other works on PTMA). ,, …”

“…These PTMA-based electrodes had a thickness of ∼150 μm, which is a relatively high value even compared to commercial lithium-ion battery electrodes (30−80 μm range). 54 To the best of our knowledge, these PTMA electrodes offer the highest areal loading for lithium-based battery with organic electrolyte (see Table S7 in the Supporting Information for a detailed comparison with other works on PTMA). 30,32,42 The performance of two cells made with such electrodes is shown in Figure 3a and b (Cell 1:9.65 mg cm −2 , Cell 2:9.39 mg cm −2 ).…”

Lithium Plating at the Cell Edge Induced by Anode Overhang during Cycling in Lithium-Ion Batteries: Part I. Modeling and Mechanism

“…Another optimization trend in improving the energy density of LIBs is to increase the electrode thickness. 68 In Fig. 7c, the anode and cathode thicknesses were either halved or doubled for both electrodes simultaneously.…”

Low‐Resistance LiFePO4 Thick Film Electrode Processed with Dry Electrode Technology for High‐Energy‐Density Lithium‐Ion Batteries

“…It is highly likely that the R ct value of the dry‐processed electrode is lower because of the lower resistance to Li‐ion transport through the pore channels. [ 37 ] After cycling, the reduction in the R ct value is unexpectedly large, and the LFP surface was further analyzed for comprehensive understanding. XPS was conducted before and after cycling to investigate the effects of binder morphology and distribution on R ct (Figure S7, Supporting Information).…”