Role of silicon-graphite homogeneity as promoted by low molecular weight dispersants

Beth L. Armstrong, Kevin A. Hays, Rose E. Ruther, W. Blake Hawley, Alexander Rogers, Ian Greeley, Kelsey A. Cavallaro, Gabriel M. Veith

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study explores low molecular weight polymers with the same chemical repeat structure as high molecular weight poly acrylic acid (PAA) and lithium poly acrylic acid (LiPAA) binders which act as a dispersant to improve the silicon-graphite electrode performance. The electrodes which utilize LiPAA as a dispersant perform, on average, the best with respect to the maximum capacity (compared to theoretical), rate performance, and capacity retention with time. These electrodes also have the poorest dispersion of binder, indicating that the poor binder dispersion is essential to electrode performance. In contrast, this study shows that electrodes formulated using PAA had good dispersion and performs the worst in cycling. Finally, this work demonstrates that the binder is not uniformly distributed in the electrode, but rather resides in local regions. The results indicate these regions accommodate volume expansion during cycling.

Original languageEnglish
Article number230671
JournalJournal of Power Sources
Volume517
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2022

Funding

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Office under the Silicon Deep Dive Project, directed by Brian Cunningham, and managed by Anthony Burrell. The authors thank for Jianlin Li for his mentorship and M.K. Burdette-Trofimov for her artistic contribution to the graphical abstract. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow other to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy 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). This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy 's Vehicle Technologies Office under the Silicon Deep Dive Project, directed by Brian Cunningham, and managed by Anthony Burrell. The authors thank for Jianlin Li for his mentorship and M.K. Burdette-Trofimov for her artistic contribution to the graphical abstract. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow other to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy 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

  • Binders
  • Dispersants
  • Polymer adsorption
  • Rheology
  • Silicon graphite anodes
  • Zeta potential

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