Effect of the Slurry Mixing Process on the Structural Properties of the Anode and the Resulting Fast-Charging Performance of the Lithium-Ion Battery Cell

Abstract

Besides the performance of a lithium-ion battery cell, the manufacturing costs are crucial for the success of battery electric vehicles. To enable cost efficient yet well performing battery cells, an optimization of the manufacturing steps with respect to the cell properties is necessary. The slurry mixing process, being the initial step of the lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing process, is well known to affect the structure of the electrode coating (e.g. porosity, tortuosity or the distribution of the binder and conductive additive), which is further connected to its electrical and ionic resistances. Therefore, a variation of the formulation strategy or mixing device can affect the performance of the lithium-ion battery cell. In this study, several variations of the slurry mixing process are investigated with respect to its effect on the fast-charge capability of the lithium-ion battery cell. Properties of the slurry, the electrode and the resulting lithium-ion battery cell are characterized for each variation to detect interdependencies and derive process-structure-property relations.