Self-healing binder

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Alloying reaction

An electrode mechanism in which lithium forms an alloy with the host, as it does with silicon, tin or aluminium. It stores far more lithium per atom than intercalation at the cost of volume changes of several hundred percent.

Binder

A polymer that holds electrode particles to each other and to the foil — typically PVDF for positive electrodes and CMC with SBR for graphite. It stores no charge, so cell designers use as little as the electrode needs.

Binder degradation

Loss of the binder’s ability to hold particles to each other and to the foil, from swelling in electrolyte, repeated strain or heat. Particles that lose contact stop storing lithium, and the coating can delaminate from the foil.

Polyacrylic acid

A water-based binder with many carboxyl groups that bond strongly to silicon surfaces, used in silicon-rich negative electrodes where CMC/SBR cannot hold the swelling particles together.

Particle cracking

Fracture of active-material particles from the volume change of repeated lithium insertion and removal. New surfaces consume electrolyte to form fresh SEI, and fragments that lose contact no longer store lithium.

Silicon anode

A negative electrode that uses silicon, which alloys with lithium and stores roughly ten times more charge per gram than graphite but swells by up to 300 %. Today it is blended into graphite at a few percent to limit the swelling.

References & further reading

Further reading on this topic

These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.

1. DOE Explains… Batteries

   U.S. Department of Energy

   Topic background · Introductory account of electrodes, electrolyte and conversion between chemical and electrical energy.

2. Current and future lithium-ion battery manufacturing

   Yangtao Liu, Ruihan Zhang, Jun Wang, Yan Wang · iScience · 2021

   Topic background · Electrode preparation, cell assembly, formation and manufacturing trade-offs.