Session: 03-13-01: Multifunctional Electronics and Energy Devices

Paper Number: 96679

96679 - Fabrication of Miniature and Interdigital Lithium-Ion Batteries via Drop-on-Demand Inkjet Printing 

The exponential growth of technological development has led to an increased demand for efficient energy storage systems for applications in the fields of transport and electronics. Batteries are the most used energy storage systems for powering portable electronic devices due to the large amounts of energy stored in comparison to related systems. Lithium-ion Batteries are the most common energy storage systems for powering portable electronic devices due to their high energy density, high operating voltage, and long cycle life. Traditional doctor-blade approach which works by placing a sharp blade fixed at distances from surfaces that needs to be covered, the coating solution is placed in front of the blade and moved across the surface creating a wet film. This approach has been used over the years for producing batteries. Currently, research is being directed to additively manufactured Li-ion batteries with special architectures towards further increasing energy density and/or satisfying special applications. The drop-on-demand (DOD) inkjet printing (IJ) has gained a lot of attention in recent years due to its high precision printing and minimization of material wastage.  In the DOD IJ process, liquid inks are ejected in a controlled manner drop by drop by using a piezoelectric actuator and are deposited on the substrate. The droplet formation and control are achieved through careful design of input voltage waveform to drive the piezoelectric actuator. 

The aim of this study is to optimize drop-on-demand inkjet printing processes for fabricating of miniature as well as interdigital lithium-ion batteries for various applications. Different ink formulation will be developed for the anode, cathode and the electrolyte. The inks developed would be optimized to ensure ideal jetting of the inks, physical properties and electrochemical properties. The anode material to be used is a nano-sized silicon-based material. The electrolyte will be a polymeric composite electrolyte made up of Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), lithium salt, and stable LATP. The cathode material will be a lithium-based composite (LiFePO4/C). The components will be thoroughly mixed and sonicated to ensure adequate homogenization and particle dispersion, also the inks would be tested to ensure they have the appropriate viscosity, surface tension, stability, wetting and adhesion to one another. The ultimate cells will be fabricated by printing the anode on an aluminum current collector followed by the electrolyte and cathode successively. The thickness of the cell will be controlled by the number of droplets deposited. The morphology and component distribution of the printed electrode and electrolyte will be examined by SEM and EDX.

Presenting Author: Habib Ajose Wright State University

Presenting Author Biography: Habib Ajose is a graduate student who is pursuing MS in Materials Science and Engineering at Wright State University.

Authors:

Habib Ajose Wright State University
Ahsan Mian Wright State University
Hong Huang Wright State University