Achieving high-energy and high-power density Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with fast charging capabilities is critical to advancing electric vehicle (EV) and portable electronic technologies. Long-range, fast charge EVs and compact portable electronics require significant advances in battery performance, lifetime, and cost. Commercialized LIBs are composed of flat anode and cathode electrode stacks which are optimized for either energy or power but not both at the same time. This is due to fundamental ion transport limitations that occur with increases in electrode thickness. Researchers are exploring improving LIB performance through material innovations with lithium metal or silicon anodes and high-voltage cathode and electrolyte materials, to name a few. Structured Electrode (SE) and three-dimensional (3D) battery designs have been investigated as an alternate solution to address these challenges. SEs engineer electrode materials into different 3D architectures on a scale ranging from tens to hundreds of microns to facilitate rapid ion-transport in thicker electrodes. While a promising concept, reliable and scalable manufacturing methods for fabricating SEs over the complex areas needed for EV and portable electronic applications remains limited.
This talk covers manufacturing and material approaches investigated by my research group to fabricate SEs rapidly and efficiently over large, complex areas. Both computational and experimental methods are employed to facilitate the development of new hardware, software, material formulations, and processing techniques for SEs, with a focus on new additive manufacturing approaches and their impact on the rate capability and charge/discharge capacity of LIBs.