Not all fugitives are bad: The case for using them to form low tortuosity - high porosity electrodes

Gabriel M. Veith; Ethan D. Boeding; Rachel J. Korkosz; Khryslyn G. Araño; Yeyoung Ha; Chanaka Kumara; Cailin Duggan; Amanda L. Musgrove; Thomas Zac Ward; Robert L. Sacci; Beth L. Armstrong

doi:10.1016/j.nxener.2026.100512

Not all fugitives are bad: The case for using them to form low tortuosity - high porosity electrodes

Gabriel M. Veith
, Ethan D. Boeding
, Rachel J. Korkosz
, Khryslyn G. Araño
, Yeyoung Ha
, Chanaka Kumara
, Cailin Duggan
, Amanda L. Musgrove
, Thomas Zac Ward
, Robert L. Sacci
, Beth L. Armstrong

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This work focuses on the inclusion of an insoluble fugitive phase during slurry processing to form composite battery electrodes. The fugitive phases consist of natural derived products like alginic acid, sucrose, rice and potato starch, and carrageenans such as Irish Moss and synthetic pore-formers based on polymethyl methacrylate. The fugitive phases can be anaerobically thermally removed (350 °C) during binder crosslinking and electrode drying steps, resulting in electrodes with low tortuosities (approaching theoretical Bruggemann limits for spherical particles) and high porosities approaching 80%. The resulting ∼3 mg/cm² loaded electrodes suffer from poor electrical connectivity, lowering the effective material utilization, but represent an approach that could be utilized for the formation of solid-state batteries with infilling of materials into well-defined pores and optimized transport pathways.

Original language	English
Article number	100512
Journal	Next Energy
Volume	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nxener.2026.100512
State	Published - Apr 2026

Funding

This research was supported by the U.S. Department Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI), Battery R&D, directed by Carine Steinway, Nicolas Edison, Thomas Do, and Brian Cunningham and managed by Anthony Burrell. 4-probe resistance characterization was conducted as part of a user project at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Transport measurements supported by the Fast and Cooperative Ion Transport in Polymer-Based Materials (FaCT), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This manuscript has been authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DEAC05- 00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). A portion of this work was authored in part by the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. The publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. government purposes. The DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy. gov/downloads/doepublic-accessplan). This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05–00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan. ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).

Keywords

Porosity
Silicon anode
Thick electrode
Tortuosity
Transport

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10.1016/j.nxener.2026.100512

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title = "Not all fugitives are bad: The case for using them to form low tortuosity - high porosity electrodes",

abstract = "This work focuses on the inclusion of an insoluble fugitive phase during slurry processing to form composite battery electrodes. The fugitive phases consist of natural derived products like alginic acid, sucrose, rice and potato starch, and carrageenans such as Irish Moss and synthetic pore-formers based on polymethyl methacrylate. The fugitive phases can be anaerobically thermally removed (350 °C) during binder crosslinking and electrode drying steps, resulting in electrodes with low tortuosities (approaching theoretical Bruggemann limits for spherical particles) and high porosities approaching 80\%. The resulting ∼3 mg/cm2 loaded electrodes suffer from poor electrical connectivity, lowering the effective material utilization, but represent an approach that could be utilized for the formation of solid-state batteries with infilling of materials into well-defined pores and optimized transport pathways.",

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year = "2026",

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language = "English",

volume = "11",

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AU - Araño, Khryslyn G.

AU - Ha, Yeyoung

AU - Kumara, Chanaka

AU - Duggan, Cailin

AU - Musgrove, Amanda L.

AU - Ward, Thomas Zac

AU - Sacci, Robert L.

AU - Armstrong, Beth L.

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AB - This work focuses on the inclusion of an insoluble fugitive phase during slurry processing to form composite battery electrodes. The fugitive phases consist of natural derived products like alginic acid, sucrose, rice and potato starch, and carrageenans such as Irish Moss and synthetic pore-formers based on polymethyl methacrylate. The fugitive phases can be anaerobically thermally removed (350 °C) during binder crosslinking and electrode drying steps, resulting in electrodes with low tortuosities (approaching theoretical Bruggemann limits for spherical particles) and high porosities approaching 80%. The resulting ∼3 mg/cm2 loaded electrodes suffer from poor electrical connectivity, lowering the effective material utilization, but represent an approach that could be utilized for the formation of solid-state batteries with infilling of materials into well-defined pores and optimized transport pathways.

KW - Porosity

KW - Silicon anode

KW - Thick electrode

KW - Tortuosity

KW - Transport

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Not all fugitives are bad: The case for using them to form low tortuosity - high porosity electrodes

Abstract

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Keywords

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