Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Additive manufacturing enables the fabrication of battery electrodes with controlled architectures that can mitigate transport limitations at high activematerial loadings. In this work, water-based lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4, LFP) inks containing carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as binder were processed by doctor-blade coating (DB) and direct ink writing (DIW) to fabricate planar and 3D-structured electrodes. Planar electrodes produced by both deposition methods exhibited comparable apparent porosity, tortuosity, electronic conductivity, and rate performance, confirming that the DIW process itself did not introduce a measurable electrochemical penalty. The rate response of planar and structured DIW electrodes was analysed using a master-curve approach in which the model parameters were expressed as functions of active-material mass loading. This enabled a fair comparison between 2D and 3D electrodes minimizing the influence of structurally derived differences in thickness and intrinsic cell-to-cell variability. Throughout a wide selection of mass loadings, the 3D electrodes consistently showed improved rate performance. At the highest investigated mass loading, the structured electrodes exhibited capacity improvements above 20% at 2.7C, while showing a significant enhancement in power performance, particularly at high rates. These results demonstrate that the benefits of electrode structuring can be quantified as functions of both mass loading and operating conditions through the master-curve framework, providing a robust basis for evaluating and optimizing 3D electrode architectures.
Source: ChemRxiv
Authors: Tomás García Rodríguez, Sergio Pinilla
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Award: G6218905885
OpenAlex ID: W7221017069