Electrodes for batteries and methods for making same
A method of fabricating a battery electrode includes forming a mixture including an electrode material and a binder; forming an electrode blank from the mixture; heating the electrode blank at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time to form an annealed electrode blank; and laminating the annealed electrode blank to a current collector. The current collector may include a conductive carbon coating. In such event, the method may further include heating the current collector at a selected temperature for a selected time prior to laminating the annealed electrode blank to the current collector.
1. A method for fabricating a battery electrode, the method comprising:
forming a mixture including an electrode active material and a binder;
forming an electrode blank from the mixture;
heating the electrode blank at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time to form an annealed electrode blank;
cooling the annealed electrode blank to form a cooled electrode blank;
supplying a current collector having a conductive carbon coating;
heating the coated current collector separately from the electrode blank at a selected temperature for a selected time to form an annealed current collector; and
laminating the cooled electrode blank to the annealed current collector.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the active electrode material includes a cathode active material.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the cathode active material includes sub-fluorinated carbon fluoride (CF x ).
4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the cathode active material includes silver vanadium oxide (SVO).
5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mixture includes a conductivity enhancer selected from the group consisting of carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon black, metal nanoparticles, and combinations thereof.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the binder is selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene difluoride, polytetrafluoroethylene, and combinations thereof.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the laminating step includes bonding a first electrode blank to a first side of the current collector and bonding a second electrode blank to a second side of the current collector.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the cooling step cools the annealed electrode blank to about room temperature.
9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the predetermined temperature is between about 200° C. and about 300° C.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the predetermined temperature is about 280° C.
11. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the predetermined time is between about 10 minutes and about 1 hour.
12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the selected temperature is between about 120° C. and about 300° C.
13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the selected time is between about 5 minutes and about 120 minutes.