Prospects for reducing the processing cost of lithium ion batteries

A detailed processing cost breakdown is given for lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrodes, which focuses on: 1) elimination of toxic, costly N -methylpyrrolidone (NMP) dispersion chemistry; 2) doubling the thicknesses of the anode and cathode to raise energy density; and 3) reduction of the anode electrolyte wetting and SEI-layer formation time. These processing cost reduction technologies generically adaptable to any anode or cathode cell chemistry and are being implemented at ORNL. This paper shows step by step how these cost savings can be realized in existing or new LIB manufacturing plants using a baseline case of thin (power) electrodes produced with NMP processing and a standard 10–14-day wetting and…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy
• B
  Battelle
• OO
  Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• VT
  Vehicle Technologies Office
• OR
  Oak Ridge National Laboratory