Improving Li-ion battery charge rate acceptance through highly ordered hierarchical electrode design

In Li-ion technology, increasing electrode loading (thickness) is one approach to improve performance; however, this approach typically compromises power density and safety. To achieve the goal of decoupling energy and power density, a novel electrode architecture is proposed. The electrode design enhances uniform ionic current, especially in thick electrodes. A highly ordered and hierarchical (HOH) graphite anode concept was designed, fabricated, and tested for efficacy. The HOH electrodes consisted of ordered arrays of macro-scale line-of-sight linear channels made through laser ablation. SEM and Raman spectroscopy demonstrated that laser ablation is a feasible approach to fabricate HOH electrodes without affecting the graphite anode chemistry, respectively. A 65–120% improvement in charge rate acceptance (5.5 mAh/cm2) was achieved in the HOH electrodes compared to conventional electrodes. A restricted diffusion direct current polarization test determined that the HOH design improved ionic flow throughout porous electrodes. Altogether, the results of this study suggest that improved charge rate acceptance can be achieved by engineering electrode porosity to mitigate the effects of concentration polarization in high energy density graphite anodes. These findings can facilitate the development of higher energy and power density Li-ion batteries, while improving resilience against Li plating under severe charge conditions.