Batteries are now an essential element of our life. How are they manufactured? They go through multiple steps including electrode manufacturing, cell assembly, and formation to be produced. In this session, we will discuss electrode manufacturing, the first step of battery manufacturing.
What is electrode manufacturing?
Simply put, it is about making the cathode and anode, the most important step in making batteries.
Electrode manufacturing starts with mixing electrode materials in the “mixing process,” and then goes on to spreading out the resulting slurries onto a foil and drying them in the “coating process,” reducing the thickness of the coated electrodes in the “roll-pressing process,” cutting the flattened electrodes in the “slitting process,” and adding tabs to the electrodes in the “notching process.”
① Mixing
Raw materials needed for making the cathode and anode are measured and mixed in this process. Active materials and solvents, basic ingredients for producing battery constituents, are included to make slurries.
② Coating
The coater (a coating machine) applies the resulting slurries onto copper and aluminum foils. The thinly coated electrodes are then dried in at least a 100°C oven.
③ Roll-pressing
When the coating and drying are done, the electrodes are compressed in a calender. The thinner it gets, the higher energy density rises.
④ Slitting and Notching
The flattened electrodes are cut vertically to the desired size in the slitting process. Next is notching, the last stage where the electrodes are cut horizontally and a V-shaped notch as well as cathode (+) and anode (-) tabs are made.
We’ve glanced through the battery electrode manufacturing processes from mixing to notching. Since these processes are about producing the cathode and anode, the basis of a battery, many techniques and know-how are employed to improve battery performance and production efficiency. We will come back later for more details. See you next time!