Design principles for LiFePO4 electrodes with improved recyclability

Lechen Yang; Dominika Gastol; Emma Kendrick

doi:10.1039/d3gc03970f

Design principles for LiFePO₄ electrodes with improved recyclability

Lechen Yang
, Dominika Gastol
, Emma Kendrick^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Metallurgy and Materials

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

To improve sustainability of lithium-ion battery electrodes there is a need to design in recycling at the manufacturing stage. In this work, a method to improve LiFePO₄ recovery rates through binder and electrode microstructure design is presented. Electrodes are produced by tape cast and direct ink writing methods with biopolymer, aqueous binder systems: carboxy-methyl cellulose with styrene butene rubber, or sodium alginate, with and without a secondary solvent rheology modifier, octanol. The recovery rate of the active material is measured after a short low power ultrasound delamination process, performed in water. Electrodes which exhibit good wettability, as observed through low contact angles, and low tortuosity, delaminate faster with higher recovery rates. Improvements from 2% to 60% black mass recovery is observed with CMC-SBR electrodes with the addition of octanol in the electrode inks, and from 79% to 86% in direct-ink printed compared to tape cast electrodes when using alginate binders. These results highlight the importance of electrode design in the circular manufacturing and recycling of LIBs and lay the groundwork for future research into new design principles for printed electrodes.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	9959-9968
Number of pages	10
Journal	Green Chemistry
Early online date	3 Nov 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/d3gc03970f
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 3 Nov 2023

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgments:
The authors wish to thank the Energy Materials Group at University of Birmingham for their help and support during the project. Especially, the authors would like to thank Brij Kishore and Dave Burnett for their help on jet milling. The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of the Faraday Institution funded project ReLiB project (Grant Codes FIRG005, FIRG027 and FIRG057) and the UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre for Technology Metals (TechMet) Grant No. EP/V011855/1 for funding.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Access to Document

10.1039/d3gc03970fLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

Yang2023_Design_principles_LiFePO4Final published version, 1.85 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

Recycling of Li-ion Batteries 3
Leeke, G. (Co-Investigator), Slater, P. (Co-Investigator), Kendrick, E. (Co-Investigator), Reed, D. (Co-Investigator), Allan, P. (Co-Investigator), Stolkin, R. (Co-Investigator) & Anderson, P. (Principal Investigator)
The Faraday Institution
1/04/23 → 31/03/25
Project: Research
Recycling of Li-ion Batteries 2
Allan, P. (Co-Investigator), Anderson, P. (Principal Investigator), Leeke, G. (Co-Investigator), Slater, P. (Co-Investigator), Stolkin, R. (Co-Investigator), Reed, D. (Co-Investigator), Kendrick, E. (Co-Investigator) & Lee, R. (Co-Investigator)
The Faraday Institution
1/04/21 → 31/03/23
Project: Research
UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre for Technology Metals (TechMet)
Anderson, P. (Co-Investigator), Walton, A. (Co-Investigator), Stolkin, R. (Co-Investigator), Cavoski, A. (Principal Investigator), Dove, A. (Co-Investigator) & Kendrick, E. (Co-Investigator)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council
1/01/21 → 31/03/25
Project: Research Councils
ReLIB - Faraday Challenge Fast Track proposal - Circular economy
Elliott, R. (Co-Investigator), Lee, R. (Co-Investigator), Allan, P. (Co-Investigator), Slater, P. (Co-Investigator), Stolkin, R. (Co-Investigator), Walton, A. (Co-Investigator), Overton, T. (Co-Investigator), Reed, D. (Co-Investigator), Anderson, P. (Principal Investigator), Windridge, D. (Co-Investigator) & Gough, R. (Co-Investigator)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council
1/03/18 → 30/06/21
Project: Research Councils

Cite this

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title = "Design principles for LiFePO4 electrodes with improved recyclability",

abstract = "To improve sustainability of lithium-ion battery electrodes there is a need to design in recycling at the manufacturing stage. In this work, a method to improve LiFePO4 recovery rates through binder and electrode microstructure design is presented. Electrodes are produced by tape cast and direct ink writing methods with biopolymer, aqueous binder systems: carboxy-methyl cellulose with styrene butene rubber, or sodium alginate, with and without a secondary solvent rheology modifier, octanol. The recovery rate of the active material is measured after a short low power ultrasound delamination process, performed in water. Electrodes which exhibit good wettability, as observed through low contact angles, and low tortuosity, delaminate faster with higher recovery rates. Improvements from 2\% to 60\% black mass recovery is observed with CMC-SBR electrodes with the addition of octanol in the electrode inks, and from 79\% to 86\% in direct-ink printed compared to tape cast electrodes when using alginate binders. These results highlight the importance of electrode design in the circular manufacturing and recycling of LIBs and lay the groundwork for future research into new design principles for printed electrodes.",

author = "Lechen Yang and Dominika Gastol and Emma Kendrick",

note = "Acknowledgments: The authors wish to thank the Energy Materials Group at University of Birmingham for their help and support during the project. Especially, the authors would like to thank Brij Kishore and Dave Burnett for their help on jet milling. The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of the Faraday Institution funded project ReLiB project (Grant Codes FIRG005, FIRG027 and FIRG057) and the UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre for Technology Metals (TechMet) Grant No. EP/V011855/1 for funding.",

year = "2023",

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doi = "10.1039/d3gc03970f",

language = "English",

pages = "9959--9968",

journal = "Green Chemistry",

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publisher = "Royal Society of Chemistry",

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N1 - Acknowledgments: The authors wish to thank the Energy Materials Group at University of Birmingham for their help and support during the project. Especially, the authors would like to thank Brij Kishore and Dave Burnett for their help on jet milling. The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of the Faraday Institution funded project ReLiB project (Grant Codes FIRG005, FIRG027 and FIRG057) and the UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre for Technology Metals (TechMet) Grant No. EP/V011855/1 for funding.

PY - 2023/11/3

Y1 - 2023/11/3

N2 - To improve sustainability of lithium-ion battery electrodes there is a need to design in recycling at the manufacturing stage. In this work, a method to improve LiFePO4 recovery rates through binder and electrode microstructure design is presented. Electrodes are produced by tape cast and direct ink writing methods with biopolymer, aqueous binder systems: carboxy-methyl cellulose with styrene butene rubber, or sodium alginate, with and without a secondary solvent rheology modifier, octanol. The recovery rate of the active material is measured after a short low power ultrasound delamination process, performed in water. Electrodes which exhibit good wettability, as observed through low contact angles, and low tortuosity, delaminate faster with higher recovery rates. Improvements from 2% to 60% black mass recovery is observed with CMC-SBR electrodes with the addition of octanol in the electrode inks, and from 79% to 86% in direct-ink printed compared to tape cast electrodes when using alginate binders. These results highlight the importance of electrode design in the circular manufacturing and recycling of LIBs and lay the groundwork for future research into new design principles for printed electrodes.

AB - To improve sustainability of lithium-ion battery electrodes there is a need to design in recycling at the manufacturing stage. In this work, a method to improve LiFePO4 recovery rates through binder and electrode microstructure design is presented. Electrodes are produced by tape cast and direct ink writing methods with biopolymer, aqueous binder systems: carboxy-methyl cellulose with styrene butene rubber, or sodium alginate, with and without a secondary solvent rheology modifier, octanol. The recovery rate of the active material is measured after a short low power ultrasound delamination process, performed in water. Electrodes which exhibit good wettability, as observed through low contact angles, and low tortuosity, delaminate faster with higher recovery rates. Improvements from 2% to 60% black mass recovery is observed with CMC-SBR electrodes with the addition of octanol in the electrode inks, and from 79% to 86% in direct-ink printed compared to tape cast electrodes when using alginate binders. These results highlight the importance of electrode design in the circular manufacturing and recycling of LIBs and lay the groundwork for future research into new design principles for printed electrodes.

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DO - 10.1039/d3gc03970f

M3 - Article

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SP - 9959

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JO - Green Chemistry

JF - Green Chemistry

ER -

Design principles for LiFePO4 electrodes with improved recyclability

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Recycling of Li-ion Batteries 3

Recycling of Li-ion Batteries 2

UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre for Technology Metals (TechMet)

ReLIB - Faraday Challenge Fast Track proposal - Circular economy

Cite this

Design principles for LiFePO₄ electrodes with improved recyclability