The interaction of consecutive process steps in the manufacturing of lithium-ion battery electrodes with regard to structural and electrochemical properties

The individual steps in the electrode manufacturing process, e.g., conductive additives addition, mixing, and calendering, strongly affect the electrochemical and mechanical properties of the electrodes. LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (NCM) cathode electrodes with conductive additive variations are fabricated using a reference and an intensive mixing process, and are subsequently calendered to different porosities. It is found that graphite reduces the pore size of NCM electrodes, in contrast to the carbon black that establishes additional nanoscale pores. Electrodes manufactured with reference mixing result in a porous carbon black network with good overall electric pathways, whereas those manufactured with intensive processing result in a dense carbon black network, leading to good short-range contacts, but a lack of long-range contacts. In this case, the addition of graphite as a conductive additive is identified to establish important additional long-range contacts. Due to the structural differences achieved by the compared processing routes, the calendering process can have a positive or negative impact on battery performance.