Densified battery electrodes and methods thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025149543-A1
Application number	US-202519016146-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 10, 2025
Priority date	May 23, 2019
Publication date	May 8, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

In an aspect, a Li-ion cell may comprise a densified electrode exhibiting an areal capacity loading of more than about 4 mAh/cm 2 . For example, the densified electrode may a first electrode part arranged on a current collector and a second electrode part on top of the first electrode part, the second electrode part of the at least one densified electrode having a higher porosity than the first electrode part of the at least one densified electrode. In some designs, the densified electrode may be fabricated by densifying electrode layers via a pressure roller while maintaining a contacting part of the pressure roller at a temperature that is less than a temperature of the second electrode part. In some designs, the applied pressure is a time-varying (e.g., frequency modulated) pressure. In some designs, a drying time for a slurry to produce the densified electrode may range from around 1-120 seconds.

First claim

1 . A method of electrode fabrication, comprising:
attaching at least a portion of a polymer binder to active material-comprising electrode particles; and forming, after the attaching, an electrode that comprises the active material-comprising electrode particles and exhibits an areal capacity loading of at least about 4 mAh/cm 2 ; and performing densification of the electrode to produce a densified electrode.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer binder attached to the active material-comprising electrode particles is formed into polymer binder granules comprising more than around 100 individual polymer binder particles.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the polymer binder granules comprise from around 100 to around 1,000,000 individual polymer binder particles.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the polymer binder granules exhibits a characteristic dimension from around 4 micron to around 400 micron.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the polymer binder granules exhibits a spheroidal or near-spherical shape.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least a portion of the polymer binder is chemically attached to a surface of at least one of the active material-comprising electrode particles.

7 . A lithium or lithium-ion battery that comprises at least one electrode produced according to claim 1 .

8 . The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the electrode is an anode, and wherein the active material-comprising electrode particles are silicon-carbon (Si—C) nanocomposite particles.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the areal capacity loading of the electrode exceeds about 6 mAh/cm 2 .

10 . An electrode, comprising:
a polymer binder; and active material-comprising electrode particles, wherein the electrode exhibits an areal capacity loading of at least about 4 mAh/cm 2 , and wherein at least a portion of the polymer binder is attached to the active material-comprising electrode particles before formation and/or densification of the electrode.

11 . The electrode of claim 10 , wherein the polymer binder attached to the active material-comprising electrode particles is formed into polymer binder granules comprising more than around 100 individual polymer binder particles.

12 . The electrode of claim 11 , wherein the polymer binder granules comprise from around 100 to around 1,000,000 individual polymer binder particles.

13 . The electrode of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the polymer binder granules exhibits a characteristic dimension from around 4 micron to around 400 micron.

14 . The electrode of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the polymer binder granules exhibits a spheroidal or near-spherical shape.

15 . The electrode of claim 10 , wherein the at least a portion of the polymer binder is chemically attached to a surface of at least one of the active material-comprising electrode particles.

16 . A lithium or lithium-ion battery comprising the electrode of claim 10 .

17 . The electrode of claim 10 ,
wherein the electrode is an anode, and wherein the active material-comprising electrode particles are silicon-carbon (Si—C) nanocomposite particles.

18 . The electrode of claim 10 , wherein the areal capacity loading of the electrode exceeds about 6 mAh/cm 2 .

Assignees

• Sila Nanotechnologies Inc

Inventors

• Yushin Gleb
• Berdichevsky Gene

Classifications

• H01M4/625

  Carbon or graphite · CPC title

• H01M2004/021

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

• H01M4/587

  for inserting or intercalating light metals · CPC title

• H01M4/0435 Primary

  Rolling or calendering · CPC title

• H01M4/0404

  by coating on electrode collectors · CPC title