Advanced chemical staining platform for battery manufacturing
This technology uses selective chemical staining to map and quantify polymer binders inside lithium-ion electrodes. By labelling binders with metal ions or halogens, it enables accurate imaging using standard SEM/EDX tools for fast electrode optimization and quality control.
Applications: Li-ion battery, electrodes, graphite/ silicon anodes
| Features | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Uses aqueous metal-ion solutions (e.g. Ag⁺) to selectively bind and label aqueous binders such as CMC or PAA in graphite and Si-based electrodes | Enables >80-98% accurate mapping of low-concentration binders (<5 wt.%) using widely available SEM/EDX techniques without altering binder distribution |
| Applies controlled halogen vapour exposure (e.g. Br₂) to stain alkali-salt binders within electrodes | Provides solvent-free, rapid binder labelling even in complex microstructures with nanopores |
| Exploits differential stability of halogen bonding under electron irradiation to distinguish unsaturated from carboxylated binders | Allows selective and independent quantification of mixed binder systems (e.g. SBR-CMC) using temporal EDX analysis |
| Enables rapid binder-informed optimisation of electrode manufacturing | Demonstrated 14% and 40% reduction of electrode electronic and ionic resistances by binder-informed optimisation of electrode manufacturing |
| Enables quantification of active particle surface coverage by nanoscopic binder layers and agglomerates (10-150 nm thick) | Allows linking binder surface coverage to electrode manufacturing conditions (e.g. during calendering) and cell degradation processes |
Patented and Available For
- Co-development
- Consulting
- Licensing