Laser printing of silicon-containing multilayer anodes with optimized electrode inks

The demand for improved and affordable batteries is increasing with the further decarbonization of mobility and other parts of the industry. To further improve lithium-ion technology, high-capacity materials such as silicon must be introduced to increase the energy density of the batteries. Furthermore, customized electrode architectures can help to improve the cycle stability and thus increase the acceptance for batterie powered mobility and mobile devices. For this purpose, multilayer electrodes were printed with the laser-induced forward transfer process, using inks with different active materials for the different layers. As active materials the high-capacity material silicon and the state-of-the-art material graphite were used. The electrodes were assembled in coin cells against lithium and were electrochemically analyzed. The prepared cells have twice the specific capacity compared to pure graphite electrodes due to the addition of silicon. After cycling, the cells were disassembled. Here, no lithium plating or deformation of the current collector was detected.