High-Performance Thick Cathode Based on Polyhydroxyalkanoate Binder for Li Metal Batteries

• Published in: Advanced fiber materials (Online) Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 214 - 228
• Main Authors: Kang, Dong Hyuk, Park, Minhyuck, Lee, Jeonghun, Kim, Chan Yeol, Park, Jimin, Lee, Youn-Ki, Hyun, Jong Chan, Ha, Son, Kwak, Jin Hwan, Yoon, Juhee, Kim, Hyemin, Kim, Hyun Soo, Kim, Do Hyun, Kim, Sangmin, Park, Ji Yong, Jang, Robin, Yang, Seung Jae, Lim, Hee-Dae, Cho, Se Youn, Jin, Hyoung-Joon, Lee, Seungjin, Hwang, Yunil, Yun, Young Soo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01.02.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Carbon black; Cathodes; Cellulose; Charge transfer; Chemistry and Materials Science; Conductivity; Cycles; Electrode materials; Electrodes; Energy; Energy storage; Flaking; Lithium batteries; Local current; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Microstructure; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Polyhydroxyalkanoates; Polymer Sciences; Rechargeable batteries; Renewable and Green Energy; Research Article; Scanning electron microscopy; Slurries; Specific energy; Temperature; Textile Engineering; Thickness; Polyhydroxyalkanoate binder; Thick cathode; Lithium metal battery; Conductive nano-fibrillar network; Nano-bridging
• ISSN: 2524-7921; 2524-793X
• DOI: 10.1007/s42765-023-00347-8

Thick cathodes can overcome the low capacity issues, which mostly hamper the performance of the conventional active cathode materials, used in rechargeable Li batteries. However, the typical slurry-based method induces cracking and flaking during the fabrication of thick electrodes. In addition, a significant increase in the charge-transfer resistance and local current overload results in poor rate capabilities and cycling stabilities, thereby limiting electrode thickening. In this study, a synergistic dual-network combination strategy based on a conductive nanofibrillar network (CNN) and a nano-bridging amorphous polyhydroxyalkanoate (aPHA) binder is used to demonstrate the feasibility of constructing a high-performance thick cathode. The CNN and aPHA dual network facilitates the fabrication of a thick cathode (≥ 250 μm thickness and ≥ 90 wt% active cathode material) by a mass-producible slurry method. The thick cathode exhibited a high rate capability and excellent cycling stability. In addition, the thick cathode and thin Li metal anode pair (Li// t -NCM) exhibited an optimal energy performance, affording high-performance Li metal batteries with a high areal energy of ~ 25.3 mW h cm −2 , a high volumetric power density of ~ 1720 W L −1 , and an outstanding specific energy of ~ 470 W h kg −1 at only 6 mA h cm −2 . Graphical Abstract TOC figure: Synergistic combination of a conductive nano-fibrillar network (CNN) and nano-bridging amorphous polyhydroxyalkanoate (aPHA) binder that affords the high-performance cathode with ≥ 250 μm thickness and ≥ 90 wt% active cathode material. Li-metal batteries (Li// t -NCM) based on thick cathodes and thin Li exhibit outstanding energy storage performance.