Laser Drying Of Graphite Anodes For The Production Of Lithium-Ion Batteries - A Process- And Material-Side Analysis For Sustainable Battery Production

Abstract

In many industries, such as the automotive industry or consumer electronics, the demand for lithium-ion batteries is increasing significantly. The state of the art in battery production is energy-consuming and cost-intensive. The drying process of the viscous active material applied to the conductor foils, together with the coating process, is responsible for more than half of the production costs of an electrode. The high energy consumption of conventional drying processes, such as convection drying, must be reduced. Therefore, lasers are used to dry the active material of the electrodes. Further advantages are the low footprint and the increased process flexibility. Moreover, the controlled energy deposition and the spatially selective heat input increase the energy efficiency of the process innovation laser drying. In this review, the results of experiments on drying anodes by laser are compared with the results of convection drying. For this purpose, different production process parameter combinations and material compositions for anodes are chosen in order to be able to derive the process and material influences on the electrode quality.