Electrode Mixture Coating to Suppress Granulation and Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing electrode mixtures face challenges in suppressing granulation of active materials while accelerating production steps, leading to increased electrode or battery resistance.
Innovation Solution
A method involving dropletizing a slurry containing an active material and a coating liquid, followed by gas-flow drying to obtain precursors, and then firing these precursors to produce particles with a coating layer, effectively suppressing granulation and accelerating production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the coating liquid is sprayed onto an active material at a high rate, then the production speed is accelerated, but granulation of the active material occurs easily
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the coating process into two distinct stages: a first coating step where coating liquid is applied at a low rate to form an initial layer, and a second coating step where coating liquid is applied at a high rate to achieve full coating. This segmentation allows each stage to optimize for its specific function, preventing granulation during the critical initial coating phase while maintaining high productivity during the second phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The first coating step performs a preliminary action by forming an initial coating layer at a low spraying rate before the second coating step. This preliminary coating establishes a foundation that prevents granulation during subsequent high-rate spraying, enabling the second step to operate at high speed without causing the harmful granulation effect.
2Manufacturing precision
If the coating liquid is sprayed at a low rate to suppress the granulation of the active material, then granulation is suppressed, but a long time is required to produce the coated active material
Solution Approach 1:
The coating process is segmented into two steps with different spraying rates. The first step uses a low rate (0.1-0.5 mL/min) to suppress granulation, while the second step uses a high rate (0.6-2.0 mL/min) to accelerate production. This segmentation allows the system to achieve both granulation suppression and high productivity by assigning different functions to different stages.
Solution Approach 2:
The first coating step performs a preliminary action at low spraying rate to establish a stable coating foundation without causing granulation. Once this foundation is established, the second coating step can rapidly complete the coating process at high speed, significantly reducing total production time while maintaining granulation suppression achieved in the first step.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method achieves suppression of granulation and acceleration of production steps, resulting in electrodes or batteries with low resistance.
Implementation Method 1
gas-flow drying the slurry droplets in a heating gas to obtain a first precursor and a second precursor
Implementation Method 2
gas-flow drying the slurry droplets in a heating gas
Implementation Method 3
firing the first precursor and the second precursor to obtain a first particle and a second particle
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a method in which both the suppression of granulation of an active material and the acceleration of production steps are achieved when producing an electrode mixture containing a coated active material. The method comprises dropletizing a slurry containing an active material and a coating liquid to obtain slurry droplets, gas-flow drying the slurry droplets in a heating gas to obtain a first and a second precursor, and firing the first and the second precursor to obtain a first and second particle, wherein the first precursor contains the active material and a component from the coating liquid, the second precursor is free of the active material and contains a component from the coating liquid, the first particle has the active material and a coating layer, and the second particle is free of the active material and contains a component same as that constituting the coating layer.