LASER ABLATION FOR LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES
The present disclosure relates to utilizing laser ablation to selectively remove regions of active material from lithium-ion battery electrodes during production, forming channels. These channels may improve the radius of curvature of the lithium-ion battery, form patterns on the surface of the electrode to store excess electrolyte, provide improved access to external sources of lithium during pre-lithiation or re-lithiation, and/or lower the tortuosity of electrodes for enhanced ion transfer between electrodes during cycling in prismatic cells and cylindrical cells.
1 . A device comprising:
a lithium-ion battery comprising:
an electrode having a channel; wherein:
the electrode comprises a length, a width, and a thickness,
the channel extends into a first portion of the length of the electrode,
the channel extends into a second portion of the width of the electrode, and
the channel extends into a third portion of the thickness of the electrode.
2 . The device of claim 1 ,
the first portion is between 5 μm and 50 μm.
3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the second portion is between 5 μm and 50 μm.
4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the second portion is approximately equivalent to the width of the electrode.
5 . The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the third portion is between 5 μm and 50 μm.
6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the third portion is less than 100 μm.
7 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
an electrolyte; wherein:
a portion of the electrolyte is present in the channel.
8 . A method for improving the performance of a lithium-ion battery, the method comprising:
forming a channel in an electrode of the lithium-ion battery using a laser source configured to emit a beam; wherein:
the beam comprises a size,
the electrode comprises a length, a width, and a thickness,
the channel extends into a first portion of the length of the electrode,
the channel extends into a second portion of the width of the electrode, and
the channel extends into a third portion of the thickness of the electrode.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the first portion is approximately equivalent to the size of the beam.
10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the first portion is approximately equivalent to the length.
11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the second portion is approximately equivalent to the size of the beam.
12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the second portion is approximately equivalent to the width.
13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the third portion is approximately equivalent to the size of the beam.
14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the third portion is less than about 100 μm.
15 . The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the forming comprises:
pulsing the laser to remove material from the electrode to form the channel.
16 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
applying an electrolyte to the electrode; wherein:
during the applying a portion of the electrolyte is present in the channel.
17 . A system for performing laser ablation on an electrode of a lithium-ion battery, the system comprising:
a laser source configured to emit a beam;
a laser optics; and
a stage configured to hold the electrode; wherein:
the laser optics is configured to direct the beam to perform laser ablation on the electrode which results a channel on the electrode.
18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the laser source comprises a femtosecond laser.
19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein:
the laser optics comprises at least one of:
a laser mirror, a laser lens, a laser window, a laser filter, ultrafast optics, laser beam expanders, laser beam splitters, a crystal, an isolator, a speckle reducer, and/or a laser prism.
20 . The system of claim 17 , further comprising:
a gas source; wherein:
the gas source is oriented towards the stage, and
the gas source is configured to remove any debris caused by the laser ablation.