Carbon nanostructures for dry processed battery electrodes

Abstract

A solvent-free process employs carbon nanostructures to prepare compositions and electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. The carbon nanostructures can be multifunctional, providing two or more desirable characteristics, acting, for example, as a conductive carbon additive, as a fibrillizing agent and / or as a mechanical reinforcement. In one example, an electroactive material, a binder, e.g., PTFE, and carbon nanostructures are combined in one or more steps. High shear mixing is used to process the binder in the presence of the carbon nanostructures. In some implementations, the carbon nanostructures are provided in combination with a carbon black and / or with carbon nanotubes. Some anode compositions can be prepared by processing the binder in the presence of a composite that contains the carbon nanostructures and an active anode material. Generally, the binder is processed in the absence of solvent. The resulting composition can be formed into a film which can be applied onto a suitable substrate to form an electrode.

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