Drying and moisture resorption behaviour of various electrode materials and separators for lithium-ion batteries

The drying behaviour and water uptake of a variety of commonly used electrode materials (graphite, LiFePO4, LiMn2O4, LiCoO2, Li(NiCoMn)O2) and separators (polyolefin, glass fibre) for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are investigated. The drying experiments are carried out using a coulometric Karl Fischer titrator in combination with a vaporiser. This setup leads to a highly sensitive and precise method to quantify water amounts in the microgram range in solid materials. Thereby the mass specific drying behaviour at RT and 120 °C is determined as well as the water resorption of the investigated materials in conditioned air atmosphere (T: 25 °C, RH: 40%). By extracting characteristic water detection rate curves for the investigated materials, a method is developed to predict the water detection beyond the runtime of the experiment. The results help optimising drying procedures of LIB components and thus can save time and costs. It is also shown, that water contaminations in graphite/LiFePO4 coin cells with a LiPF6 based electrolyte lead to a faster capacity fade during cycling and a significant change of the cell impedance.