A Universal Aqueous Conductive Binder for Flexible Electrodes

The development of wearable electronics has led to new requirements for flexible and high-energy batteries. However, the conventional polyvinylidene fluoride binder fails in the manufacture of high-loaded and thick battery electrodes owing to its insufficient adhesiveness and electronic insulation, let alone for flexible devices. Furthermore, organic processing is expensive and not eco-friendly. Herein, the authors report a novel aqueous conductive binder made of carbon nanotubes interwoven in cellulose nanosheets, successfully satisfying the fabrication of flexible yet high-strength electrodes for universal active materials of different sizes, morphologies, and negative-to-positive working potentials, with a high mass loading of up to approximate to 90 mg cm(-2). The conductive binder has an ultrathin 2D-reticular nanosheet structure that forms continuous conductive skeletons in electrodes to segregate and warp active particles via a robust face-to-point bonding mode, allowing the fabricated electrodes to have remarkable flexibility and excellent mechanical integrity even under various external forces and excessive electrolyte erosion. Flexible LCO cathodes with a mass loading of >30 mg cm(-2) as a case study exhibit high mechanical strength (>20 MPa) and can easily achieve an ultrahigh areal capacity of 12.1 mAh cm(-2). This cellulose-based binder system is ideal for advanced high-performance functional devices, especially for flexible and high-energy batteries.

Automated summary

The study introduces a novel aqueous conductive binder made of carbon nanotubes interwoven in cellulose nanosheets, which enables the fabrication of flexible and high-strength electrodes for universal active materials. This conductive binder allows for a high mass loading of up to approximately 90 mg cm(-2), providing outstanding flexibility and mechanical integrity in electrodes.