Compositions and methods for parallel processing of electrode film mixtures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12374692-B2
Application number	US-202318181470-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2023
Priority date	Nov 2, 2017
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

Materials and methods for preparing electrode film mixtures and electrode films including reduced damage bulk active materials are provided. In a first aspect, a method for preparing an electrode film mixture for an energy storage device is provided, comprising providing an initial binder mixture comprising a first binder and a first active material, processing the initial binder mixture under high shear to form a secondary binder mixture, and nondestructively mixing the secondary binder mixture with a second portion of active materials to form an electrode film mixture.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A parallel processing method for preparing an electrode film comprising:
providing a bulk active material;
forming an electrode film mixture by mixing the bulk active material with an initial binder mixture by a first nondestructive mixing process; and
forming an electrode film from the electrode film mixture, wherein the electrode film is a free-standing film,
wherein the electrode film comprises a total binder loading of about 1.5% to about 4% by mass.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first nondestructive mixing process comprises mixing at least one of a lower pressure, lower velocity, and faster feed rate than processing under high shear.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising processing the bulk active material prior to forming an electrode film mixture.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein processing the bulk active material comprises a nondestructive mixing process.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the bulk active material comprises providing a bulk active material mixture comprising the bulk active material and a bulk binder.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising processing the bulk active material mixture by a nondestructive mixing process.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the bulk binder is selected from the group consisting of PVDF, CMC and combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initial binder mixture comprises a first binder and a first active material.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first binder and the first active material are mixed by a second nondestructive mixing process to form the initial binder mixture prior to forming the electrode film mixture.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the first and the second nondestructive mixing processes is an acoustic mixing process.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the initial binder mixture is processed by a high shear mixing process prior to forming the electrode film mixture.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the mass ratio of the first active material to the first binder is between about 1:1 to about 4:1 by weight.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the combined D 50 particle size distribution of a total active material, including the bulk active material and the first active material, in the electrode film mixture is at least about 6 μm.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first binder comprises a fibrillizable binder.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first binder comprises PTFE.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bulk active material comprises a treated surface.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bulk active material comprises graphite.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bulk active material in the electrode film comprises active material particle surfaces that are pristine.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrode film mixture is not exposed to a high shear process before being formed into the electrode film.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is a dry fabrication process in which substantially no solvents are used.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrode film has a tensile strength of greater than about 0.25 MPa.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the electrode film has a tensile strength of about 0.3 MPa to about 0.7 MPa.

23. The method of claim 1 , further comprising attaching the electrode film to a current collector to form an electrode.

24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising inserting the electrode within a housing to form an energy storage device.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the energy storage device is a battery.

Assignees

• Tesla Inc

Inventors

• Wang Ziying
• Feigenbaum Haim
• Duong Hieu Minh

Classifications

• H01M2004/021

  Physical characteristics, e.g. porosity, surface area · CPC title

• H01M4/1393

  of electrodes based on carbonaceous material, e.g. graphite-intercalation compounds or CFx · CPC title

• H01M4/133

  Electrodes based on carbonaceous material, e.g. graphite-intercalation compounds or CFx · CPC title

• H01M4/0404

  by coating on electrode collectors · CPC title

• H01G11/38

  Carbon pastes or blends; Binders or additives therein · CPC title