This is the chemical store for the battery, it holds lithium ions when the battery is empty. It is made from a cathode active material (commonly a lithium metal oxide or lithium iron phosphate), carbons to boost conductivity and a binder to hold it together. This is all coated onto an aluminium foil current collector.
The challenge
To meet global demand for electrification, the way lithium-ion batteries are made needs to change. Powering a battery is its electrodes. Wet coating is the industry standard method to manufacture electrodes, which is energy and emissions intensive. Switching to a dry battery electrode manufacturing process unlocks transformative cost and carbon savings.
The Anatomy of a Battery
The present: electrode manufacture by wet coating
Wet coating is the industry standard method for making electrodes and the process has been optimised over decades. Electrodes need to be manufactured in vast quantities – the average electric vehicle needs 2000m². The wet coating process is a great way of achieving this at scale, however it is very energy intensive.
In the wet coating process, the ingredients for an electrode (the active material, binder and any conductive additives) are mixed into a slurry using, often toxic, solvents. The wet mixture is then coated onto a thin current collector and the solvent needs to be evaporated. This requires drying ovens on a vast scale – up to 100m long and drawing up to 5MW of power.
Fundamentally changing this process offers us a transformational opportunity to reduce the cost and emissions of battery manufacture and opens up new methods to enhance electrode performance. The way to do this, is by eliminating the need to dry the electrode.
The future: dry battery electrode manufacture
Dry coating enables cheaper and more sustainable electrode production. Instead of a wet slurry, electrode active materials are applied directly to current collectors as a dry powder. This eliminates the need for toxic solvents, drying ovens to evaporate solvents, and the systems needed to recover and recycle solvents. This saves energy, cost and carbon emissions.
62%
saving in energy cost
67%
saving in capex costs
70%
reduction in CO₂
45%
smaller electrode line Compared to wet coating, using Anaphite technology enables:
Based on a 811 NMC cell, with graphite anode. Material mixing through to finished electrode.
Industrial-scale dry electrode coating is challenging:
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Mixing
Combining complex materials, with different properties into a homogenous dry powder with the right properties for dry coating, is very challenging.
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Scalability
Powders for dry coating must be produced homogenously, consistently and at scale for use in a dry coating line.
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Particle Engineering
The production process must give the ability to tailor dry coating powders to meet specific performance requirements and make materials that flow well through dry coating equipment.
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Cost
The throughput and yield of dry coated electrodes must be the same as wet coating to enable true cost savings. This is dependent on line-speed, which is why powders must flow well.
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Flexibility
The process to make dry coating powders must be able to ultilise different materials for cost, sustainability and performance goals eg. High Ni NMC, carbon nanotubes or LFP. It must also adapt to new active materials, binders and additives as battery technology advances.