Human beings might have formed their identity on many different traits, but mind you, none define us better than that tendency of growing on a consistent basis. This tendency to improve, no matter the situation, has brought the world some huge milestones, with technology emerging as quite a major member of the group. The reason why we hold technology in such a high regard is, by and large, predicated upon its skill-set, which guided us towards a reality that nobody could have ever imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, if we look beyond the surface for a second, it will become clear how the whole runner was also very much inspired from the way we applied those skills across a real world environment. The latter component, in fact, did a lot to give the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and as a result, initiate a full-blown tech revolution. Of course, this revolution eventually went on to scale up the human experience through some outright unique avenues, but even after achieving a feat so notable, technology will somehow continue to bring forth the right goods. The same has turned more and more evident in recent times, and assuming one new discovery ends up with the desired impact, it will only put that trend on a higher pedestal moving forward.
The researching team at Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has reportedly discovered that dry manufacturing can be used to develop cleaner, more affordable and high-energy batteries. To understand how the stated approach affects the structure of battery materials and their electrochemical properties, the researchers, alongside its industry partner Navitas Systems, started out by focusing on an electrode dry processing strategy, which involves mixing dry powders with a binder, and then making the material optimally compact to improve contact between the particles. After these electrodes were ready, the team measured their electrochemical performance across different conditions over various timeframes. Going by the available details, the batteries manufactured through this method notably displayed an impressive power capacity, even following extensive usage. Talk about what factors contributed to the stated show of quality, the answer begins with the dry manufactured-battery’s structure. This structure, on its part, would ensure that ions take a more direct path between the anode and cathode. Another reason why the technique might just work is its ability to produce relatively thicker batteries. However, the best thing in regards to the said thickness is how it is used to store more energy rather than loading up on inactive ingredients that increase unnecessary size and weight.
In case you are still not sold on the dry manufacturing process, then it might be worth acknowledging that the method low-maintenance nature can also save businesses significant amounts of factory floor space as well as time, energy, waste disposal, and expenses.
“When you’re looking at the gigascale factories, you’re looking at billions of dollars in order to scale batteries up,” said Bryan Steinhoff, technical lead and lead researcher on the project for Navitas Systems. “Dry processing can eliminate the coating and solvent equipment currently necessary for large-scale battery production. If you can use a dry process instead, you can reduce your footprint by up to 40 or 50%, saving hundreds of millions of dollars”
For the immediate future, the team hopes to find a way through which they can stabilize the material that attaches the anode components to a thin metal current collector.
“A main goal for this project is to develop or identify a better binder for the dry process, because the current binder is not very stable for the anode environment,” Jianlin Li, a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Beyond that, the plan is to reduce the presence of carbon black, a material which, at least thus far, has shown to detract from the battery’s energy density.