Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon TechnologyDry Coating Process for Battery Electrodes: Environmentally friendly, cost efficient, space and energy saving
The fabrication of high-load electrodes is a highly promising approach for increasing the energy density of Li-ion batteries due to a favorable relation of active to inactive materials. However, state-of-the-art tape-casting processes with relatively high solvent contents are limited in terms of coating thickness and drying procedures, accompanied by undesirable effects like e.g. binder migration. Therefore, advanced processes for the electrode production are urgently needed.
Fraunhofer ISIT has developed a dry coating process, which works completely without solvents. The drying of the coated electrode slurry is an energy intensive process. It also requires a large available space because of the long drying sections needed for an optimal process result. With the dry coating process developed by Fraunhofer ISIT, the use of solvents becomes obsolete. Furthermore, higher loadings even exceeding the range of conventional electrodes are possible. This leads to significant cost savings and is more environmentally friendly.
