Visualizing the carbon binder phase of battery electrodes in three dimensions
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This study presents a technique to directly characterize the carbon and binder domain (CBD) in lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery electrodes in three dimensions and use it to determine the effective transport properties of a LiNi0.33Mn0.33Co0.33O2 (NMC) electrode. X-ray nanocomputed tomography (nano-CT) is used to image an electrode composed solely of carbon and binder, whereas focused ion beam–scanning electron microscopy is used to analyze cross-sections of a NMC electrode to gain morphological information regarding the electrode and CBD porosity. Combining the information gathered from these techniques reduces the uncertainty inherent in segmenting the nano-CT CBD data set and enables effective diffusivity of its porous network to be determined. X-ray microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) is then used to collect a NMC data set that is subsequently segmented into three phases, comprised of active material, pore, and CBD. The effective diffusivity calculated for the nano-CT data set is incorporated for the CBD present in the micro-CT data set to estimate the ensemble tortuosity factor for the NMC electrode. The tortuosity factor greatly increases when compared to the same data set segmented without considering the CBD. The porous network of the NMC electrode is studied with a continuous pore size distribution approach that highlights median radii of 180 nm and 1 μm for the CBD and NMC pores, respectively, and with a pore throat size distribution calculation that highlights median equivalent radii of 350 and 700 nm.
Date Issued
2018-08-27
Date Acceptance
2018-06-29
Citation
ACS Applied Energy Materials, 2018, 1 (8), pp.3702-3710
ISSN
2574-0962
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Start Page
3702
End Page
3710
Journal / Book Title
ACS Applied Energy Materials
Volume
1
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2018 American Chemical Society. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000458706400024&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Materials Science
Li-ion batteries
lab-based X-ray computed tomography
carbon binder characterization
porous materials
multiscale image-based modeling
LICOO2 CATHODE
ION
MICROSCOPY
TORTUOSITY
TOMOGRAPHY
MORPHOLOGY
DISCHARGE
POLYMER
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2018-07-20