Insights into architecture, design and manufacture of electrodes for lithium-ion batteries

The development of next-generation electrodes is key for advancing performance parameters of lithium-ion batteries and achieving the target of net-zero emissions in the near future. Electrode architecture and design can greatly affect electrode properties and the effects are sometimes complicated. The architecture of current electrodes is designed mainly based on empirical studies by making trade-offs between battery performance parameters. Thus, a holistic understanding of the relationships between electrode architecture-property-performance is urgently needed. Additionally, the implementation of next-generation electrodes with optimised architectures also relies on manufacturing capability. Various manufacturing processes have been proposed to produce electrodes with characteristic architectures. Nevertheless, the merits and limitations of the manufacturing processes are not well understood and selecting appropriate manufacturing processes is challenging. Herein, ten manufacturing processes are illustrated, which have been classified into four categories of slurry casting, templating, additive manufacturing, laser ablation. The overall performance of all the manufacturing processes is first qualitatively compared from five different aspects of architectural controllability, scalability, sustainability, simplicity and cost, followed by a quantitative comparison using a Weighted Manufacturing Score method. This work provides a guideline for future electrode architectural design illustrating the limitations and potential advantages of different methodologies to stimulate the development of the next-generation LIB electrodes.