ENHANCING THE PERFORMANCE OF LI-ION BATTERIES IN HARSH ENVIRONMENTS
THE CHALLENGE In recent years, there has been a growing demand for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that have a longer lifetime and provide more consistent performance in harsh environment applications such as those found in the automotive, defence and oil exploration systems sectors. Currently, in extreme atmospheric conditions, the expansion and contraction that the cell experiences cause a binder depletion between its current collector and its coated layer which results in delamination between the copper foil and its coated graphite, therefore causing significant reliability issues. The challenge for the MTC was to exploit recent advancements in the laser processing of battery materials including the use of short, pulsed lasers to optimise Li-ion battery performance. The aim was to introduce different properties and restructure the surfaces inside Li-ion batteries to improve surface adhesion between the coated layer and the anode to ultimately reduce the possibility of failure.
MTC’S SOLUTION To address the challenge set out, engineers at the MTC utilised laser surface micro- texturing, a new, innovative process using ultra short, fast lasers that could achieve the desired performance benefits in the proof- of-concept demonstrator. Firstly, the team completed a period of analysis on an off-the-shelf Li-ion battery to understand where the loss of performance was occurring and how this could be addressed. Using laser surface micro-texturing, the team were able to create well defined and controlled structures on the surface of the anode to increase adhesion and improve bond strength which in doing so would better the quality of manufacturing in this high-energy anode material. Through a series of further in-house tests to prove the validity of the solution, additional optimisations on the restructured surfaces were completed to enhance and prove the performance of the demonstrator battery in testing environments.
The reliability of Li-ion batteries in testing environments has long been under scrutiny and the question of how we can change the surface texture inside the cell to improve the performance has gone unanswered. However, through this project and the possibilities to alter the structure and characteristics of surfaces available through laser-based surface engineering technology, has shown that we can transform battery manufacturing and translate what we have learned across multiple sectors.
Reza Nekouie Esfahani Senior Research Engineer, MTC
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