Drying of Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes for Use in High-Energy Cells: Influence of Electrode Thickness on Drying Time, Adhesion, and Crack Formation

When fabricating battery electrodes, their properties are strongly determined by the adjusted drying parameters. This does not only affect their microstructure in terms of adhesion, but also influences cell performance. The reason is found to be the binder transported to the surface during drying. Herein, it is shown that when thicker electrodes are processed, new challenges arise. On the one hand, loss of adhesion associated with certain drying conditions becomes a more serious problem; on the other hand, cracking occurs at a certain drying rate and with increasing electrode thickness.